


It's My Party, And I'll Die If I Want To

by Chichirinoda, Miko



Category: Zombie-Loan
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-10-28
Updated: 2009-02-22
Packaged: 2017-10-21 10:21:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 6
Words: 31,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/224123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chichirinoda/pseuds/Chichirinoda, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miko/pseuds/Miko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If Chika had expected to get anything from Shito for his birthday, it certainly wouldn't have been <i>this</i>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

This was, far and away, the weirdest birthday Chika had ever had. It certainly wasn't in any way how he'd expected to turn sixteen. He'd expected to be with his father and little sister, and maybe a bunch of his friends from school. From his _old_ school. He'd expected some partying, with music and cake and presents, and maybe a bit of spiked punch after his dad and sister had bugged off and left him and his friends alone.

Actually, come to think of it, most of that had happened. The cake was a little lopsided, but Koyomi had put her heart into it. There was definitely music, and streamers and confetti, and even a couple of brightly wrapped presents on a table at the side. Hell, even the punch was appropriately spiked, he was pretty sure.

No, the weird part came from the company he was keeping. Two months ago he hadn't known a single one of these people. Now, suddenly, they were a major part of his life, and everything from before had fallen aside.

Chika sighed as he watched Koyomi plaster herself all over Soutetsu. He was pretty sure the girl hadn't even _had_ any of the punch... she'd been drinking Fantan like it was going out of style, but that wasn't alcoholic. The chairwoman - who the hell made a kid that young the head of a huge school like this? - had left a little while ago, and that left just him and his new ball-and-chain to watch Koyomi and Soutetsu making out.

Chika glanced to the side, and scowled. Sure enough, the bastard was sitting there smug as you please, basically ignoring everyone else. He'd objected strenuously to the party and attended only because Koyomi and Soutetsu had insisted - Chika knew, because the prick had still been objecting even as the others had yelled 'surprise!' as Chika walked in the door.

Shito didn't want to be here.

Koyomi had _tricked_ him into coming to Chika's room in the first place, telling him there was something important she had to show him. He'd been in the process of opening a box of Betty chocolates when she'd barged into _his room_ and _dragged_ him here. And once he'd realized that the purpose of this little gathering had been to honour the day that stupid monkey's mother had pushed him crying into the world, he'd felt justified in turning right around and stalking back to his own room.

He didn't like Akatsuki, he didn't want to like Akatsuki, he was never _going_ to like Akatsuki, and birthday parties were something he loathed, anyway. Parties in general, in fact. He wasn't a social person, and he wasn't going to start now.

But Soutetsu had literally barred him from leaving, and then Chika had shown up, and the Chairwoman had pulled him aside and ordered him to stay, so here he was. Sitting on a chair as far from the others as he could. Staying.

There were funny noises coming from the opposite end of the room, where Koyomi and Soutetsu were. He was definitely Not Looking, though his imagination was more than enough to explain precisely what was going on.

The punch was the only part worth staying for. It was, at least, tasty.

He saw that Chika was scowling at him and turned to glare. "I didn't get you a present," he stated coldly.

"Yeah, I noticed," Chika grumbled, glaring a little harder. "Well, don't expect anything for yours." Stupid, arrogant asshole. Why, out of all the people in the world, had he gotten chained to _this_ prick? Shito had a stick so far up his ass it was a wonder it didn't show every time he opened his mouth. He probably didn't even know the meaning of the word 'fun'. All he ever seemed to do was lecture Chika - or threaten him.

Shito snorted. "I wouldn't expect you to," he sneered. As far as he was concerned, if none of these people ever found out then his birthday was, it would be too soon.

Almost viciously Chika speared his fork into the slice of cake, determined to at least get _some_ enjoyment out of this whole mess. His right hand twinged, still not feeling quite _right_ , and the reminder made him growl under his breath. He wanted his own damned hand back. Permanently, not just long enough to hunt some zombies. At least Shito was left-handed, but Chika now had to do everything with _someone else's hand_. Writing and eating and such were bad enough, but the first time he'd been lying in bed enjoying himself a little and it had occurred to him that it _wasn't his hand_ , well...

The thought made him flush, and he looked away. That just put him in line of sight with their senpai in the corner, and his flush deepened as he saw Soutetsu's hand vanish up under Koyomi's skirt. "Geez. Why don't you two just get a damned room?" he demanded. They ignored him - he honestly wasn't sure they'd even heard him.

Akatsuki was blushing, Shito noticed, and glanced over at the pair in the corner, watching impassively. He rolled his eyes after a moment and drained his glass, then got up to get another cup of punch. Was that what was bothering Akatsuki so much? It was tame.

"I think they have a room, Akatsuki," he muttered, filling the glass and returning to his seat. "It just happens to be _yours_."

That, of course, only made Chika blush harder. Which in turn made him even angrier, because he'd decided approximately one month and twenty-nine days ago that the thing that pissed him off most in the world was when Shito got the better of him. In any way.

"Just as long as they don't go for the bed," he grumbled, sinking down in his seat and spearing savagely at the innocent cake. "I have to sleep in that thing!" Because sure as hell he wasn't going to ask to stay in Shito's room for the night. Assuming the asshole would even allow him, which was highly unlikely.

Grabbing a cup of the punch, he drained most of it, concentrating on the fizzy feeling of the alcohol rushing to his brain instead of the noises coming from the corner.

Shito glanced up at the corner again. He was almost halfway through the new glass of punch already and didn't remember drinking it. He was feeling a little light-headed, and as he listened to what Akatsuki was saying, he turned to look at him again.

"You and I could go for the bed," he said, quite reasonably. "That might make them leave and find their own place to fuck."

Chika had never actually snorted anything out his nose before. It hurt like a _bitch_ , apparently. Coughing and choking, he turned to stare at Shito. "Wh-what?" He couldn't have just heard what he thought he'd heard. Because... because... fuck, just no way.

Granted, he'd never seen Shito display any interest in girls, but that was largely because Shito appeared to hate _everyone_. And Chika was at the top of his list, so he definitely wouldn't suggest them going to the bed together.

Unless he meant just to chase off Koyomi and Soutetsu? But then, why was he suddenly being so helpful?

Shito blinked slowly as Akatsuki coughed and choked. He felt so calm, so light and there was a pleasant fuzzy barrier between himself and the world. When he was sober, he remembered the things he did when drunk, and swore never to allow himself to drink alcohol ever again.

But things happened. And while he was intoxicated, he never saw anything wrong with the way he acted.

He rose from his seat and moved over to Akatsuki, bending closer and putting his hand on the arm of his chair. "I said, why don't we go to the bed, Akatsuki," he said, trying to pitch his voice in a sultry tone. "I'm sure they'll clear off in a minute if we do that."

And if they didn't, what was the harm?

"I, uh, I... what?" Chika stammered intelligently. He knew he looked like an idiot, but he just couldn't make his brain engage. Not with _that look_ on Shito's face, and that husky almost-purr in the other boy's voice, and the way he was leaning over Chika's chair until they were closer than Chika had ever been to anyone outside his family before.

His heart was pounding so hard he wasn't even sure he'd be able to hear Shito's answer over the volume of his heartbeat. Chika shook his head to try to clear it, suddenly regretting that last gulp of alcohol. And all the ones before it.

Well, Akatsuki hadn't turned him down. Shito smiled at him, a little lopsidedly. "Can I kiss you, Akatsuki?"

He heard a pair of wolf whistles coming from the far side of the room and didn't turn around, his red eyes locked with Akatsuki's gold.

Chika just gaped at him, too stunned to even think of a reply. He was half certain this had to be a dream, except he didn't really want to contemplate the idea that he might dream about Shito propositioning him, even in a nightmare. He especially didn't want to believe he'd dream about Koyomi and Soutetsu watching while it happened.

So, since it clearly couldn't be happening in real life and he definitely wouldn't dream about it, it just wasn't happening. Period.

 _Well,_ Shito thought, _silence isn't a yes._

 _But it isn't a no, either._

Shito considered the question for a moment. If Akatsuki had pushed him away, he'd have been sure it was a no, of course. But he wasn't pushing him away. He was gaping at him in that fetching way, and Koyomi and Soutetsu appeared to be stealing towards the door together, obviously intending to give them some alone time after all.

So he leaned forward and captured Akatsuki's lips with his own.

Chika made a shocked noise, and his brain just... shut down. He didn't know what to think, or do, so he just didn't do anything at all.

Except that not thinking meant his hindbrain took over, and his hindbrain was apparently just as happy to kiss right back. Damn, but Shito knew what he was doing. Where the hell had he learned...? And why was he...?

The questions refused to form completely, because that would have been too much like thinking, and Chika definitely didn't want to start doing that. As soon as he did, he was going to have to freak out.

All right, so Shito had chosen correctly. He made a soft, satisfied noise as Akatsuki began to respond to the kiss instead of pushing him away, and slipped his arms around the other boy's neck, deepening the kiss and showing him just what he could do with his tongue.

What he could do was substantial. He'd had 150 years to hone his technique, albeit not entirely by choice. But when he was drunk, that didn't matter one whit. He could push the trauma to the back of his mind and just enjoy it, just _feel_ , even if it were only for a short time.

That was probably the reason why he threw himself at anything that moved, on the rare occasions that he did get drunk.

If shock hadn't already shut down Chika's thinking processes, that... _thing_... Shito was doing with his tongue would have accomplished it anyway. Despite himself Chika moaned and tilted his head back, drowning in sensation.

There was a little voice screaming in the back of his head, and it was getting rapidly louder. The part of him that was in control at the moment didn't want to listen, but after a few moments it became too loud to ignore.

 _  
**What the fuck do you think you're doing???**   
_

With a grunt Chika grabbed Shito by the shoulders and pushed him away, panting. He stared up at the other boy, totally bewildered and not a little lust-befuddled. "What... what the fuck was that?" he finally demanded, his voice hoarse.

"That?" Shito said, a little befuddled himself, though in his case it was mostly due to drink. He smiled. "That was a kiss. You've never kissed anyone before, have you? I could tell."

His tone wasn't condescending, for once. Actually, he didn't mind at all. It was sort of cute, and he hoped he'd taught the kid a thing or two over the last few minutes. It seemed like Akatsuki had been enjoying himself, anyway, and in Shito's alcohol-soaked brain, that meant that they'd be doing more kissing in a moment.

Akatsuki probably just had to catch his breath.

"I know what it _was_ ," Chika retorted, outraged. "And I have so!"

Belatedly he remembered that he might not want to argue that part, because... well, his only kiss to date had been from his _father_ , and he just didn't think about that. Ever. For any reason. Much like he wasn't going to think about kissing Shito. Ever. For any reason.

Except he had to think about it long enough to deal with it right now. "I meant, _why_ the fuck did you do that?" he demanded, clarifying his earlier question. Shito was still leaning over him, practically pinning him into the chair - and when he glanced desperately to the corner, hoping for help, he discovered that Koyomi and Soutetsu had apparently left at some point.

Bastards. He'd make them pay later. First he had to deal with Shito.

"Why?" Shito blinked, confused. "Didn't you want me to? You didn't say no when I asked."

He lifted a hand, sliding it into Akatsuki's duochrome hair. It was softer than he might have expected, if he'd bothered to think about it. Leaning forward, he made to recapture Akatsuki's lips. It was easier not to talk, after all. Talking just seemed to be making the whole thing confused.

This time Chika managed to keep his head on straight and he pushed Shito away the moment he got close.

Or at least, he thought he did. He'd meant to. Somehow it seemed like he'd only gotten as far as wrapping his hands in Shito's shirtfront.

That was a familiar position at this point - they spent more time up in each other's faces, arguing, than not. Well, fine. Chika would just treat this like a wordless kind of argument. And he wasn't going to lose this fight any more than he was willing to lose any other. Angrily he tightened his fists in Shito's shirt and kissed him back savagely, struggling to take control of the kiss and show Shito who was really in charge here.

Shito made a soft sound in the back of his throat as Akatsuki took control of the kiss. _This_ he understood, and it produced an almost automatic reaction in him that he couldn't have helped even if he were in a mental frame of mind to want to.

Though he certainly was no submissive in a battle, Shito had been conditioned as long as he could remember to take the submissive role in bed. While he was capable of making his desires known and of initiating things, the moment Akatsuki became aggressive, he moaned and backed down.

His legs grew weak and he sank down, placing himself beneath the other boy instead of leaning over him, and tilting his head up into the kiss.

That was the _last_ thing Chika had expected him to do. The golden-eyed boy pulled back just enough to let him stare down at Shito, dumbfounded. The bastard had been so uptight and controlling for the entire two months Chika had known him that Chika had been starting to assume Shito just wasn't capable of _ever_ releasing control. To anyone, for any reason.

Yet here he was, melting into the kiss the moment Chika got the least little bit aggressive, all but kneeling in submission.

Well. Chika suddenly grinned, a touch of evil in the expression. He'd been looking for a way to get some back over Shito for a while now. Looks like he'd finally found it. Let's see just how far he could push his luck.

He shifted so he was very definitely looming over Shito, forcing the other boy's head back at an awkward angle as Chika dove in to kiss him again. This time Chika shifted the grip of one hand from Shito's shirt to his hair, holding it just tightly enough to tug without threatening to actually pull it out.

Shito's knees hit the floor firmly and he tilted his head back at the awkward angle, still striving to kiss Akatsuki as deeply and skilfully as he could manage. His hands lifted to Akatsuki's shirt, skimming over the tight material and brushing over his chest in search of a nipple.

As Akatsuki pulled on his hair he moaned obediently, melting - if it were possible - even further into the kiss.

Somewhere in the back of his mind he thought it was surprising that Akatsuki was reacting this way after he'd all but pushed Shito away before. But he was no stranger to having sex with people who hated him. It didn't seem that strange, when you thought about it that way.

Growling in the back of his throat, Chika pushed his tongue into Shito's mouth in response to the way the other boy pinched at his nipple. That felt... damned good, and he really had to wonder where the fuck Shito had learned all this, but at the moment he really didn't care. All that mattered was that Chika _finally_ had the upper hand, and he wasn't going to let it go.

He tugged Shito's head back further, until his neck was a long, straining line that Chika proceeded to run his teeth over. He wasn't exactly gentle about it, nipping and grazing the skin at random, sucking to taste the sweat and leave marks. He bit hard at Shito's earlobe, and murmured, "You really like that, don't you? Fuck, Shito. Who'd have thought?"

Shito groaned at the bites. Any other time he'd have been worried about the marks Akatsuki was leaving. If he'd been in full possession of his faculties, he probably would have tried to push him away and started swearing at him. But every bite sent shivers down his spine, and he didn't fight the hold one bit, even as it grew painful and the muscles in his neck started to cramp in response.

Akatsuki seemed to like the touch to his nipple, so he rubbed in slow circles through the fabric, making them peak and harden.

It didn't surprise Chika in the least that Shito was the nonverbal type, but that didn't stop Chika from talking. Babbling meant he still wasn't thinking, and now he really didn't _want_ to start thinking. "Shit, Shito, fucking hot, you're... shit." He groaned and bit down at the junction of Shito's shoulder and neck, tracing his tongue along the strong cord of the tendon there and sucking at the skin.

His other hand drifted over the front of Shito's shirt, reaching for the claps of the Chinese-style closing. Chika tried hard to act like he knew exactly what he was doing, like he'd done this a million times before and was totally casual with it.

Shito didn't really see any reason to speak, but he didn't mind that Akatsuki did. He gasped softly at the bite, and then moaned as Akatsuki licked and sucked at his skin. Though Akatsuki was still holding his head at a severe angle, he was being quite gentle otherwise, and Shito definitely wanted to encourage him.

As his own shirt was opened, Shito dropped his hands to the hem of Akatsuki's shirt and pushed it upwards, finding the nipples again. If he could have without straining against the hold on his hair, he would have leaned forward and shown Akatsuki what else he could do with his tongue, but he didn't try.

"If you'll permit me..." he whispered instead, rubbing his thumbs over Akatsuki's nipples.

"Wh-what?" Chika had to drag his attention away from the sinful things Shito was doing to him. When he did manage to focus and realized what the other boy had said, he boggled. Shito... was asking him... for _permission_?

"I, uh, yeah?" he stammered, then cursed himself. That hadn't sounded particularly like he was in control of the situation at all. He licked his lips, and tried again. "What do you want?" he demanded, and this time it came out firmly.

Shito frowned faintly, trying to think of the best way to frame his request.

"I want to use my mouth on you," he said precisely, his voice quiet and calm, more like the tone he usually used at school than the one he generally had when speaking to Akatsuki.

He thought Akatsuki would probably like the results if he did allow it, but Akatsuki also seemed to be very much enjoying the hold he had on him, manipulating his body and pulling him into the position he wanted, so he knelt passively and waited for the other boy to make the decision. In the end, it didn't matter too much to Shito, either way.

Chika closed his eyes, trying to catch his breath. He couldn't do it while looking at Shito kneeling there passively in front of him - it was just too damned hot. So far he'd been acting mostly on instinct, but this was a decision. He had to think in order to make a decision. That meant he wasn't going to be able to brush this off as 'I got carried away, it wasn't for real'.

Something told him this really wasn't going to stop at kissing. He had _no_ idea why Shito had suddenly gone all passive and passionate on him, but it was kind of a nice change. Not that Chika had any illusions - he was sure the bastard would be right back to being a prick tomorrow.

No reason not to enjoy lording it over him now, was there? Well, other than the whole 'this probably makes me gay' thing, but... well, hell, Chika had seen that coming since he and his best friend Shiba had fooled around after school a few times.

Taking a deep breath, he opened his eyes again and looked down at Shito with what he hoped was a firm expression. "Take your shirt off, first," he ordered. "Then you can touch me."

Shito looked up at him, now that his hair had been released. There was something uncertain lurking in his red eyes, but he inclined his head and let those eyes slip closed once more. "If you prefer."

He reached up and finished off undoing the clasps Akatsuki had begun, undoing them with the deftness of long practice. Then, with the collar loosened, it was easy to slip the shirt off over his head. He folded it in that compulsively neat way he had, setting it aside on the floor beside him.

Then without hesitation, he reached for Akatsuki eagerly, pushing the shirt up a bit more and then latching onto a nipple with his lips, flicking it with his tongue and adding just a bit of teeth for variety.

Chika huffed a soft laugh at the sight of the stick-in-the-mud _folding_ his damned shirt, but the sound turned into a startled moan when Shito grabbed him. "Fuck, that's... oh, yeah," he moaned, hardly even aware of what he was saying. He fisted a hand in Shito's hair again, holding him close this time. "Sh-shito, fuck..."

He was vaguely aware that he really ought to be returning the favour. He slid his other hand down and caught one of the other boy's nipples between his fingers, pinching and pulling the way Shito had done to him, earlier.

Shito moaned encouragingly as Akatsuki began to return the favour, his breathing deepening as his nipple was stimulated and turned into a little hard pebble between Akatsuki's fingers. Shito licked and sucked at the nipple under his mouth, then switched to the other when he judged that the first had been thoroughly abused.

Then his hands began to drift downwards, running over Akatsuki's toned abs and towards the waistband of his pants.

Oh, hell, this was getting completely out of hand and Chika... really, really didn't mind, he discovered somewhat to his bemusement. Maybe it was the alcohol in his system. Maybe it was just that he'd never noticed how fucking hot Shito was.

"Stop," he grated out, determined to at least do this right. "I thought... I mean, on the bed," he changed the question to an order, since Shito seemed so happy to take them.

Shito froze instantly when Akatsuki told him to stop, then rose obediently to his feet. He was a little unsteady on his feet, a testament to the amount of alcohol that had been in the punch, but he walked to the bed and then paused, remembering that Akatsuki seemed rather uncertain and inexperienced.

He glanced back at the other boy. "Should I strip first?" he asked, an eyebrow quirking. It seemed expedient, but Akatsuki also might want to do that himself. That would be pleasant, too.

"Nngh. No," Chika decided after a moment of hesitation. "I'll do it." The thought of being able to tease Shito, of running his hands over every inch of that gorgeous body as he bared it, was too tempting to ignore.

All right, yeah, he'd admitted Shito was fucking drop-dead gorgeous. Everyone at school knew that. Chika just hadn't thought it was worth getting past all the prickly bullshit to do anything about it. Since he was being proved wrong, he decided he might as well enjoy it.

He pushed himself out of the chair, also a bit unsteady as he made his way to the bed - and Shito. The moment he reached the other boy he was sliding his hands down over those incredible abs, hands fumbling slightly with the belt and fly of Shito's trousers. He kissed Shito hard again, putting all of his hunger and frustration into the kiss.

Shito almost laid down at Akatsuki's words, but then froze when Akatsuki came straight over to do it right then. He returned the kiss with equal passion, swiping his tongue over Akatsuki's lips and then delving inside, both penetrating and somehow submissive even in that. He explored all of the places he thought might make Akatsuki gasp, and found quite a few of them.

His arms hung loose at his sides, not trying to help or hinder what Akatsuki was doing.

Realizing Shito was just _standing_ there, Chika growled. "Undress me," he muttered against Shito's lips, his hands now working inside the other boy's pants. It was easy enough to push pants and underwear down over Shito's narrow hips, leaving the dark-haired boy more or less bare to Chika's touch.

Chika had to pause for a moment and swallow hard, feeling a bit dizzy with heat. Yeah, okay, Shito was fucking gorgeous _everywhere_ , the bastard. Chika caught the other boy's hard cock in his hand and gave it a squeeze, then ran his hands down to tug and play with his sac.

This was more familiar ground. He and Shiba had never _kissed_ , that would have been way too mushy. But they'd messed around like this, and Chika knew how to tease just enough to drive someone wild without giving enough stimulation to satisfy.

"Oh, sorry," Shito said, frowning in consternation. He reached out and pulled Akatsuki's shirt off, right before the boy curled his hand around his cock and squeezed. That weakened his knees and he gasped, his legs beginning to shake a bit, but he firmed himself and kept going, undoing Akatsuki's belt and pants and lowering his underwear as well.

"S-so you have touched a boy before," he said. He didn't really mean for it to sound condescending, but to Akatsuki's ears it probably would.

Chika growled again, and tugged a little harder for a moment, just to remind Shito that he might not want to insult the guy who literally had him by the balls. "Yeah, so?" he said, hoping he didn't sound as childishly defensive as he thought he did. "I told you I'd kissed someone before." Not the same person, but that was irrelevant.

He raked his other hand down Shito's back, not hard enough to leave welts or anything but not trying particularly to be gentle, either. He ended with his hand rubbing the firm flesh of the other boy's ass, then dipped down a little further. This was way more than Shiba had ever let him do, but he was curious how far Shito would allow this to continue. If Chika had ever taken the time to think about it he'd have assumed the control freak would be a hard-core seme... but this uncharacteristic submissiveness made him wonder.

Shito groaned at the tug, his knees weakening so much that he almost stumbled. Akatsuki did sound very defensive, and he shook his head, shrugging. "I just didn't th-think you had," he gasped. "Kissing and sex are different, after all, and you seem inexperienced."

He arched his back as Akatsuki scratched down his spine, then whimpered softly as the other boy cupped his ass and then dipped down even more intimately. His breathing was beginning to come rapidly and a little harshly.

He wrapped his own hand around Akatsuki's cock and stroked slowly and firmly in counterpoint to Akatsuki's own pulls, with a bit of a twist to the wrist that would send shocks of pleasure through the other boy.

Chika gasped helplessly when Shito stroked him like that, going a little weak in the knees himself. He pushed hard on Shito's shoulder, shoving the other boy back until the backs of his knees struck the bed. Shito collapsed onto it, Chika following right on top of him, ending up sprawled over Shito with one leg between the other boy's thighs and his hand trapped between Shito's ass and the bed.

With another soft growl Chika bent his head and latched onto one taut brown nipple with his teeth, worrying it and flicking at it with his tongue. He finally released Shito's balls and went back to stroking his cock, keeping his pace deliberately slow just to see the bastard squirm.

Shito went down easily under Akatsuki's weight, spreading his legs without struggling. He rocked upwards with the stroking, not exactly squirming, but obviously enjoying the teasing pace. His own hand moved just as slowly over Akatsuki's cock, drawing it out for him just as Akatsuki was drawing it out.

His lips parted and he gasped for breath, his free hand curling in the covers for a moment before he put it to use by reaching between them and flicking his fingers and thumb against Akatsuki's nipple. The teasing pace was maddening, but he kept himself from complaining too much. He certainly had more willpower against something like that then Akatsuki did.

The odd, flat taste of his blood as a zombie flooded Chika's mouth as he bit down hard on his lip, struggling for control. He loved teasing his partner, but he'd always sucked at being patient when teased in turn. He wanted it hard and fast and _right now_ , damn it. Panting, he squeezed a little harder around Shito's cock, and boldly slid his fingers into the crack of the other boy's ass, probing for the circle of muscle that protected his entrance. He didn't intend to go all the way, they were _so_ not prepared for that - unless Shito was hiding lube and condoms in his pockets. At this point Chika would have believed just about anything was possible, but it was unlikely.

That didn't stop him from teasing and exploring, though. Chika had never been much for respecting limits and boundaries. He lived to see how far he could push things, and this was no exception.

Shito groaned and squirmed a little at that teasing touch to his ass, but the sound wasn't discouraging. His hand moved a little faster over Akatsuki's member, squeezing just a little more as he pulled at Akatsuki's cock. It occurred to him belatedly that he didn't have anything with him, but it wasn't as if _that_ had been a problem before, either.

Akatsuki might not know that, though. Even in his alcohol-soaked haze, he realized that. "Y-you can," he gasped. "I'll be all right."

It wasn't like he'd rupture something and die, either. He was a zombie, after all.

It took a moment for the words to penetrate Chika's lust-fogged brain, and when they did he had to look up for a moment to see if Shito really meant what Chika thought he did, or just meant it was okay to put his fingers in.

Something in Shito's expression told Chika he really did mean the whole thing - and that he wasn't admitting to having those hypothetical condoms and lube tucked away somewhere, either. Chika lifted his mouth away from Shito's chest, staring down at the other boy in surprise and suspicion. "Are you stupid?" he asked. "I'm not that ignorant, idiot. I'll hurt you."

Shito shrugged faintly, looking up at Akatsuki with a neutral expression. "I'm not afraid of being hurt by you," he said, quite honestly.

The way Akatsuki was looking at him bothered him on some level. He frowned up at the other boy and tightened his arm around him. His other hand had never ceased the stroking motion over Akatsuki's member.

"But if you'd prefer me to use my mouth, I'm good at that, too," he offered. A monster like him certainly had no right to complain if Akatsuki wanted to fuck him without the minor benefit of lubricant, but Akatsuki might simply not be ready for that, yet. He was so young, after all.

The suspicion turned into shock, and Chika gaped at him for a moment. Shito said it so casually, like it was no big deal, but Chika had heard some locker room horror stories. Zombies they might be, and maybe they couldn't catch something or die from the tearing, but they could still feel pain.

"Moron," Chika muttered, shaking his head. He bit hard at Shito's shoulder again, and increased the pace of his hand, squeezing tightly at the top of each stroke. It was hard to focus through the haze of pleasure caused by Shito's hand on his cock, but somehow Chika managed.

Well, if Shito was so desperate to have something shoved up there, Chika could oblige him. He worked his finger deeper, pushing carefully past that ring of muscle. Shito's body was warm despite being dead, and the flesh squeezed and worked around Chika's finger in a way that made him feel suddenly dizzy, imagining how damned good it would feel against his cock. Next time, he was making sure there was lube around, damn it.

Assuming that this meant Akatsuki didn't want a blowjob, Shito increased the pace of his hand, working the other boy's cock to full and desperate hardness, as Akatsuki penetrated him with his fingers. He groaned softly, drawing his knees up and opening himself wide to the intrusion. He relaxed as much as he could, allowing Akatsuki to prepare him.

His fingernails scraped slowly up and down Akatsuki's spine, and then his own hand dipped down with a bit of trepidation, squeezing Akatsuki's ass once before retreating once again. Some people liked that, while others took offence.

Chika sure as hell didn't mind. In fact he arched into the contact, and groaned softly when it withdrew. Shito had pushed him completely out of the ability to think; he was only reacting now, and he didn't much care what Shito did as long as it felt good.

Still sucking and biting at Shito's chest, leaving little marks behind, Chika worked his hand faster, determined to push Shito over the edge. He wanted to see those cynical red eyes go wide with pleasure, the so-often-smug expression turn wanton and wild. He wanted to know that _he_ had done those things, that he'd finally gotten through Shito's shell of indifference to the world around him.

Shito's breathing sped up rapidly. He cupped Akatsuki's ass again, manipulating the taut globes, since the other boy seemed to have liked it after all. He rocked into Akatsuki's hand, gasping harder and harder.

Was he trying to kill him? A soft sound, almost a plea, escaped his lips as the minutes ticked by. "A-Akatsuki," he moaned. "Akatsuki, p-please, I...I can't..."

If Akatsuki kept it up at this pace, he wasn't going to be able to hold on much longer, and he was nearly in a state of panic, trying to explain to him what was about to happen if he didn't give him a break. He would finish far too quickly and surely Akatsuki would be disgusted with him.

"Chika," the other boy corrected him fiercely, giving him an extra squeeze to emphasize the point. "At least fucking call me by name when we're doing _this_ , Shito."

He wasn't doing much better than Shito, but he was desperately clinging to his control. He wanted to bring Shito first, wanted to come with the heady sight of Shito losing that much-vaunted control. He started rubbing his thumb over the head of Shito's cock with each stroke, something that always drove Chika nuts when he did it to himself.

Shito scarcely heard the order, a fact which under normal circumstances might have shocked him. He shook his head rapidly in negation and then jerked hard, biting his lip until a dark trickle of blood ran down his chin as he climaxed. He simply wasn't able to hold on any longer. A soft cry bubbled up in his throat and escaped despite himself, as he writhed in the grip of intense pleasure.

His hand didn't slow or lose its rhythm, though, pulling rapidly on the other boy's cock and squeezing relentlessly. He didn't want to falter, and even as the ecstasy ran through him, he somehow managed to keep the pace going. He wanted to hear Akatsuki come, too.

The look on Shito's face was everything Chika had hoped it would be, and more. The tiny trickle of blood running from the corner of Shito's mouth would have worried him under other circumstances, but he was too close to the edge himself to find it anything but hot. With a sharp cry he followed Shito over the edge into orgasm, his body jerking above Shito as he emptied into Shito's hand.

He collapsed onto the other boy, not caring for the moment that his weight might be uncomfortable for Shito. He panted harshly for breath, trying to gather his scattered wits and figure out what the hell had just happened.

Shito made a face and wiped his hand off onto the sheets, oddly fastidious even when intoxicated, and even though he knew that sex entailed bodily fluids and such regrettable things.

Unlike Akatsuki he wasn't in the least bit concerned with what had happened. He allowed his arms to fall away from Akatsuki and closed his eyes, his breathing slowing. Even with Akatsuki's weight on him he wasn't particularly uncomfortable, and as the other boy seemed to have satisfied himself after all, he was rushing headlong towards a drunken sleep.

Finally Chika managed to gather himself enough to shift most of his weight off Shito. He ended up settled next to the other boy, half sprawled over him, too enervated to move. "You are the _weirdest_ person I have ever met," he told Shito drowsily. Now that lust wasn't pulsing through his system, the alcohol and post-orgasm combination was threatening to send him straight to sleep.

Shito made a soft noise in response, but it wasn't anything close to a coherent comment or complaint. It wasn't even clear whether he heard Akatsuki's words at all. He shifted and turned over, putting his back to Akatsuki, though he didn't throw the boy's weight off of him.

In seconds, he was fast asleep.

* * *

Shito always woke at the same time, except on rare occasions when something forced him to wake earlier, in which case he might make use of an alarm clock. Otherwise, if left to his own devices, he woke promptly at 7:00 am, whether it was a weekend or not, and whether he had a hangover or not.

This morning he had a hangover.

He rolled onto his back with a groan, throwing an arm up to cover his eyes from the growing light coming through the window, and his shoulder encountered something warm and slightly yielding. He opened his eyes, turned his head, and beheld the sleeping form of Akatsuki lying angelically on the pillow next to him, and the events of the previous night came flooding back.

And with a snarl of rage and frustration, Shito planted his hands in the middle of Akatsuki's chest and pushed him off the bed onto the floor.

Chika had been having a rather nice dream where he'd found a lottery ticket on the ground that turned out to be a grand-prize winner, and he'd been able to pay back his loan and get his own life back. The abrupt awakening left him dazed and confused, and not a little disappointed to discover it had only been a dream.

"What the fuck?" Shaking his head to clear it of the last fog of sleep, he looked up to find an enraged Shito glaring at him.

Angry Shito was a sight Chika had come to take for granted over the last few months, but there were a couple of important differences this time. One, he seemed to be lying on the floor next to his bed, while Shito was _in_ his bed. Two, he was butt naked - and so was Shito, from what Chika could see. Three, he had a hangover.

These facts did not add up to anything good.

Shito sprang out of the bed and looked down at himself, at the flaking dried fluid on his body, and the red marks standing out starkly on his pale skin. Every excruciating detail of the night before was running on a loop through his mind. He remembered how he hadn't realized the punch was alcoholic, and how he had hit on Akatsuki, and how the _idiot_ had taken him up on him.

But it was more than that. It was the fact that Akatsuki had gotten aggressive on him in just the right way, and he had folded like a cheap suit.

He could have forgiven Akatsuki from taking him up on it. But that humiliation, and his certainty that Akatsuki had realized what it meant, he couldn't forgive.

Red-faced, he moved around Akatsuki's room in a whirlwind, searching for his clothes. The detritus of the party was still all over, but his clothing wasn't hard to find. He grabbed them up hastily. "I'm disgusting. I'm going to take a shower," he hissed.

"Wha... wha... _hey_!" Memory was starting to return to Chika, and while he hadn't exactly expected a snuggle-fest come morning, this was _not_ what he'd been expecting. At all.

He scrambled to his feet and snatched up the nearest pair of shorts. "What the fuck is your problem?" he demanded as he tugged them on. "You fucking started it!"

Shito walked up to Akatsuki and stuck a finger in his face.

"I don't have a problem, but I was _drunk_ ," he said dismissively. "Did you think for one moment that I was actually interested in you?"

There was something lurking in his eyes that Akatsuki might not have noticed. The truth was, Shito was terrified, and that was making him overreact even more than he already would have. If Akatsuki thought he could dominate him like that any time he wanted, he could be almost as bad as Toho. At least Shito was a country away from Toho.

He needed to nip this in the bud. Right now.

"Give me back my fucking underwear," he added, his glare deepening.

"Oh, fuck you, that's a girl's excuse," Chika retorted, getting right up in Shito's face in return. " 'I was drunk, so it's your fault I threw myself at you and you took me up on it.' Well, screw you, you weren't the only one drunk." His pride was stung by Shito's implication that he'd have to be that drunk to want Chika. Implication, hell, Shito had come right out and said it. "What makes you think I'd want you either, otherwise?"

Embarrassed by the realization that he had indeed grabbed Shito's shorts instead of his own, Chika stripped down again and flung the offending piece of clothing right into Shito's face. "Get the hell out of my room," he raged, uncaring that Shito was still naked, or that he was either. Shito could just deal with it. This was all Shito's fault anyway.

Shito had no real desire to get dressed when he felt as disgusting as he did right now, but he also didn't want to walk naked down to his bedroom. He gritted his teeth and pulled on the underwear that had just been flung in his face, feeling even dirtier.

"Fuck you, I wasn't making an excuse," he snarled. "I was _telling_ you, in case you thought this was some kind of relationship or something." He straightened up, holding his shirt and pants to his chest, and gave Akatsuki his most heated glare. That was dressed enough to get to his room.

"If you touch me again, I'll fucking kill you."

"If you touch _me_ again, I'll tear off your dick and stuff it down your throat," Chika threatened in turn, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring, trying not to care that he was still nude. Fuck Shito, this was his room and if anyone was the victim here, it was him.

Shit, and Koyomi and Soutetsu had seen the start of it, and probably knew perfectly well how it had finished. He was _never_ going to live this down.

"Easily solved, then," Shito snapped, marching out the door without a backwards glance.

He intended to scrub his skin until it bled. Not that it had been bad. Of course it hadn't been bad. Akatsuki hadn't hurt him, though he had certainly enjoyed Shito's submission, and had obviously taken pains to show him that he enjoyed it.

It would only escalate from here, but hopefully Shito had established to Akatsuki that it had been some kind of anomaly.

Chika cursed and threw the nearest object at the door as Shito closed it. Unfortunately, the closest thing to hand was his pillow, so it didn't even make a satisfying 'thump' when it struck the door.

He seriously thought about throwing some things that would make better noises, but reluctantly decided against it. He didn't have that much in the way of 'things', and anything he broke he'd just have to replace. That would be money out of his savings towards his loan payment.

Snarling, he threw on a robe and snatched up his bath things, because he really needed to scrub off after all that. He actually had a hand on his doorknob before he remembered what Shito had said about going to clean up. He swore some more and kicked the door. Hard.

"Ow!" All right, that hadn't been very satisfying either. Grumbling, Chika dumped his bath things back onto his desk and collapsed down to sit on the bed with his head in his hands. When the fuck had his life gotten so complicated?

Oh right. Two months ago, after that horrible accident. Nothing would ever be simple again.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been a month since Akatsuki's party, and to Shito's shock, his strategy had worked. He had been extra dominating in their conversations, taking no shit _whatsoever_ from Akatsuki, and the other boy had yet to try to use the information that Shito had unfortunately given him to his advantage. Perhaps he really did think that it was an oddity, or due to the liquor, or had forgotten completely about the details of the sexual encounter.

Whatever it was, Shito was relieved.

It was evening on a Sunday and while he would normally be asleep by this hour, he had stayed up for a while studying for an exam. And then, he had suddenly felt a bit grungy. While he normally would have showered in the morning, he decided that he didn't want to stay feeling that way for a moment longer then he had to.

He stepped into the shower room and stopped, hearing the shower already going. Apparently Akatsuki was already in there. Certainly they had showered together a few dozen times, though, so he didn't think anything of it. He shucked his clothes and tossed them into the laundry hamper, then stepped into the shower.

The soft sound of the door opening hadn't reached Chika past the noise of the shower, and even if it had he was a little too distracted to pay much attention. He'd only just gotten in from his part-time job at the 24, which was becoming more like a full-time job. Anything to pay off the loan. But the newest magazines had arrived today and it had been his job to sort them and rack them. And, since the store was empty 90% of the time that late at night, he'd flipped through them a fair bit, too. He had no idea why that store thought it was a good idea to stock so many girlie mags, but Chika certainly wasn't complaining.

Unfortunately, it wasn't so empty that he'd dared to _do_ anything about the hard-on he'd ended up with, so he'd suffered in silence until the end of his shift. Now he leaned against the shower wall, stroking his cock slowly, trying to make it last a little. He groaned softly, tilting his head back and letting the water run down over his sensitive body.

Shito stepped into the shower, stopped dead and stared for a moment.

"Can't you do that in your own room?" he snapped irritably. Damned if he were going to back out quietly and suffer in grimy silence while Akatsuki turned their shower into his own personal pornographic love room.

With _his hand_ , though Shito wasn't quite unreasonable enough to call him on _that_ without significant provocation. The thought had occurred to him before, and he'd blocked it as far from his consciousness as possible.

With a startled yell Chika jerked upright, and nearly slipped on the slick tiles. He steadied himself against the wall, belatedly realized he still had his hand on his cock, and released it hastily. Panting and flushed, aching with unfulfilled need, he glared at Shito. "What the fuck is your problem?" he snapped, well aware that he was in the wrong here and all the angrier because of it.

Now _that_ pissed Shito off.

He stalked further into the shared, two-headed stall and twisted the water on. "My problem?" he demanded. "I don't have a problem, other than the fact that I want to have a shower, and I didn't come here to get a pornographic show!"

"Yeah, but you don't have to be a prick about it!" Chika shouted, flushing deeper still. He cupped his hand briefly in the water and threw the spray at Shito, irritated beyond belief. He wanted badly to go back to his room and finish what he'd started, but he still had shampoo in his hair and anyway, that would be letting the asshole win.

Shito reacted to that ludicrously immature act on the part of Akatsuki in what was perhaps a predictable manner.

He closed the three-foot distance between them in a flash and grabbed Akatsuki by the shoulder - because he wasn't wearing a shirt - and got up in his face. "Fuck you," he snapped. "I'm not the one jerking off in a public shower when anyone could walk in. I have the right to have a shower if I want without taking part in your disgusting exhibitionistic fantasies!"

Three months had made this a conditioned reflex; if Shito got up in his face, Chika got right up in his in turn. Chika grabbed Shito by the other shoulder, and leaned in, growling. Now they were face to face, so close their foreheads butted together, eyes locked in what had become an eternal battle for dominance.

"You are such a fucking asshole!" Chika yelled, all but spitting the words into Shito's face. "Like you've never jerked off in the shower before. Or do you just have trouble getting it up, and you're jealous?" Certainly Shito hadn't had any problems the night of Chika's birthday, but Chika didn't think about that night, or acknowledge in any way that it had happened. _Ever_.

Shito snorted with derision, his red eyes snapping, his own anger and frustration rising in answer to Akatsuki's, as it always seemed to. Why had fate chosen to chain him to someone who pissed him off so much?

"Why should I be jealous of you? That's the last thing I'd be jealous of. You probably would be so scared at the idea of actually having sex that you'd deflate and run away screaming like a girl!" he snapped. "You can barely even kiss right!"

Not that Akatsuki's kisses that night had been terrible, but Shito did recall a certain lack of finesse about them, and in his current state of mind he wasn't inclined to be charitable. All he wanted was a fucking shower, and Akatsuki was getting in his face about it!

"You son of a..." Chika shoved hard and managed to slam Shito back against the wall. He lunged in and covered Shito's mouth with his, kissing the other boy savagely, determined to prove there was _nothing_ wrong with the way he kissed. His hand on Shito's shoulder tightened until his grip was hard enough to leave bruises on that perfect, pale skin, and he growled deep in his throat. The kiss was more about one-upmanship than lust, but after what Chika had been up to there was a fair bit of lust involved as well.

If Shito hadn't been taken by surprise, Akatsuki would never have managed it, but he was caught flat-footed by the sudden change in tactic. He struggled for a moment, automatically, before his brain registered just what Akatsuki was doing.

He melted a bit against the wall, going limp in Akatsuki's grasp. The bruising pain of Akatsuki's hand on his shoulder was punishment for defiance, and the kiss was certainly asserting the boy's dominance over him. Though mentally he was sober enough to rail against his body's reactions, he was unable to do more than lift his other hand and close it around Akatsuki's arm, his other hand still clenched around the boy's shoulder.

He didn't try to push him away, and his lips softened under the assault, returning the kiss as his eyes slid away and then closed with shame and frustration.

When Shito went limp and melted against him, it surprised Chika enough that he actually lost the worst edge of his anger. The kiss gentled slightly, but Chika pushed his tongue against Shito's lips insistently, tracing the thin line of them and soaking up the taste of the other boy. He'd forgotten how addictive Shito tasted. Made himself forget, more like, but he couldn't ignore it now.

Shito was definitely returning the kiss, and not even trying to struggle or pull away. The growl in Chika's throat shifted to something closer to a purr, and he leaned in close until their bodies were pressed together from shoulder to knee.

Shito sighed softly as he opened his mouth to the press of that insistent tongue, his own tongue sliding along Akatsuki's in an enticing caress instead of a struggle for dominance. He didn't resist the press of Akatsuki's body, pinning him against the wall.

At least Akatsuki wasn't hurting him anymore, though his shoulder throbbed a bit.

His hand slid up Akatsuki's arm and buried in the soft, wet locks, fingernails scraping gently down Akatsuki's neck. He recalled what Akatsuki liked from before.

Chika gave a soft cry and shuddered, pulling his mouth away from Shito's so he could pant for air. The scrape of nails over his neck was incredibly arousing, and he'd forgotten just how deft Shito was with his tongue. His aching cock was pressed tight against Shito's hip, and he could feel the beginnings of Shito's arousal against his thigh. "You are the most confusing son of a bitch I've ever met," Chika said, and bit down on the junction of Shito's neck and shoulder, as he remembered the other boy liking before.

Shito groaned, his head tilting forward a little, which only served to open his throat in a different sort of way, stretching the tendon that Akatsuki was torturing and drawing out the sensations.

"If I'm so confusing, then why are you doing this?" he muttered. "You hate me just as much." He scraped his fingernails down Akatsuki's neck again, because he seemed to like that so much.

"And don't leave marks this time, idiot," he added. "I'll kill you."

"Bitch, bitch, bitch," Chika muttered with an ironic chuckle underlying the words. He bit a little harder, but didn't suck on the skin to leave a mark beyond the teeth marks. Maybe later, but Shito was being remarkably accommodating. The least Chika could do was obey his request.

Even if it had been framed more like an order and a threat.

They were already so conveniently naked, and the water and steam made everything slick. He rocked against Shito, grinding his leg against the other boy's cock in a steady rhythm.

Shito's body was awakening quickly and he began to rock slightly against the other boy in turn. The wetness certainly was arousing, and despite his frustration over the whole situation, Akatsuki's body was, at least, pleasingly shaped and toned. Almost as nice as his own, really.

He didn't respond to Akatsuki's goading words, this time, instead leaning forward to nibble at the nape of Akatsuki's neck. He didn't leave marks, either, but did bite and lick at the sensitive skin, returning the favour.

The truth was, he did like it when Akatsuki bit him. He just hoped he wasn't going to leave all those marks like last time. They had been a bitch to cover up and hide for days afterwards.

The further encouragement made Chika grin, though a part of him wondered what the fallout from this was going to be. He cheerfully told that part to go fuck itself... he was horny, and Shito was here and apparently willing, so what the hell. It was as good a way to fight as any, and more pleasant than most.

Not that Shito was fighting, which surprised Chika. He'd thought the submissiveness the first time had been due to Shito being drunk. Shito seemed perfectly sober at the moment, and Chika would have expected him to fight for dominance in this like he did with everything else, but for once Shito seemed content to let Chika take the lead.

Chika slid his other hand, the one not gripping Shito's shoulder, over the slick skin of Shito's hipbone. He teased his fingers along the edge of the patch of wet curls that cradled Shito's rapidly awakening cock, at the same time hitching his leg up and bracing against the wall so Shito was forced to stand on tiptoe against the wall, practically sitting on Chika's leg.

"A-ah..." Shito gasped as Akatsuki forced him upwards, his fingers tensing against the other boy's skin. The position only made him feel more open and vulnerable, which made it even more impossible to struggle against the demands of his body and his conditioning.

He tilted his head back against the wall, his lips parting in a wanton expression of arousal as his cock grew hard and swelled.

He could feel the teasing touch as Akatsuki encroached closer to his cock. He squirmed a little on Akatsuki's leg, his brow furrowing at the teasing, and let his own arms relax and drift downwards, his own fingers skirting over Akatsuki's hip bones and then flirting with the soft, light down at the join of his legs in turn.

Chika groaned and rocked into the touch, not incidentally grinding his thigh against Shito's cock again. He was rapidly deciding that he fucking _loved_ to see that expression on Shito's face... the one that said the other boy had lost all control and given in completely, to _him_. It might just be the sexiest thing he'd ever seen. Certainly it beat the hell out of the static, airbrushed pics in the magazines.

Leaning in, Chika kissed Shito again, wanting to taste that expression in a physical way. He let go of Shito's shoulder and let that hand drop down as well, coming up beneath Shito's cock to tease along his balls and lower.

Shito had to admit that the more this went on, the more skilful Akatsuki became. Certainly he seemed to be figuring out this kissing thing, and Shito kissed him back deeply, moaning into his mouth at the touch to his balls and even lower. He spread his legs just a little wider to give Akatsuki easier access, though it forced him even more onto Akatsuki's mercy, his weight coming down even more full on the other boy's braced leg.

He curled one hand around Akatsuki's cock, stroking it slowly and teasingly, recalling how it had driven the other boy wild the last time. The other hand he wrapped around, squeezing Akatsuki's ass and manipulating the taunt globes with his fingers.

Chika made a muffled noise of heated need against Shito's mouth, shivering at the feel of Shito stroking him like that. Damn it, how did the bastard know exactly how to touch him to drive Chika absolutely wild? How many other people had he seduced while drunk, to be this damned good at it?

Sliding his hand further down, Chika probed carefully at the ring of muscle around Shito's asshole. The water helped ease the friction, and Chika had a few ideas for other things that might help, including the soap and shampoo. He still didn't want to tear Shito open, but he'd been thinking about it and he'd concluded that they were unlikely to be able to catch any STDs, being dead and all. So he didn't have to worry about condoms.

He'd show Shito. The bastard would never have the nerve to call Chika a pussy about sex again.

Shito keened in the back of his throat as Akatsuki probed at him, the sensation more teasing than anything else at this point. His hand continued to stroke Akatsuki's cock slowly and teasingly, not wanting to bring him off too quickly. It was obvious that the other boy was at least considering going for it this time, when last time he had, for some reason, changed his mind. He somehow didn't think he was going to do so this time.

His other hand left off Akatsuki's ass and began to scrape with his fingernails up his back instead, knowing the stimulation was something that had definitely pleased Akatsuki the first time.

His tongue flirted with Akatsuki's, not trying to steal the domination, but sliding into Akatsuki's mouth and exploring nevertheless, brushing over sensitive places with consummate skill.

The scrape of the other boy's nails seemed to drag at something connected straight to Chika's dick, and he shuddered. He bit down on Shito's lip hard in retaliation, tasting a faint hint of copper. He immediately soothed the sore spots with his tongue, then probed deeper to see if he could find any spots that would make Shito moan in turn.

Meanwhile he found it ridiculously easy to carefully push two fingers into Shito's ass, as if the other boy was relaxing to welcome him. Chika thought he remembered something like that from last time, but he'd been too far gone to really pay attention. For sure, Shito wanted this as bad as Chika did, no matter what he'd said after that first night.

Shito gasped and shuddered at the bite, his hand flinching away from Akatsuki's back. Had that meant he didn't like it after all? But then he licked at the spot and probed deeper, and Shito frowned slightly, returning the kiss with a bit more hesitance. His hand returned to Akatsuki's back, but now just rested at the small of his back, uncertain at the signals he was receiving.

His body easily accommodated the two fingers, as Shito knew just how to relax to minimize any damage or pain. His body wouldn't protest the intrusion, though obviously there were limits to his anatomy, as well.

Chika felt the sudden hesitance, the change in Shito's attitude, and gentled his touch a bit in automatic response. As much fun as he was having getting the best of Shito for a change, he still wasn't the type of guy to enjoy anything his partner wasn't equally enjoying. Where was the fun if Shito wasn't right there with him, moaning and begging for more?

Finally breaking the kiss, Chika dragged his mouth over Shito's jaw to lick and nibble at the shell of his ear. At the same time he finally stopped teasing and wrapped his fingers around Shito's cock, pumping steadily. Chika had already been worked up when Shito had walked in on him - Shito's maddeningly slow pace was helping Chika not to lose it prematurely, but he wanted Shito as wild as he was _soon_.

It wasn't that Shito wasn't enjoying himself, he just wasn't sure what Akatsuki wanted. He didn't actually seem upset, though, so the conclusion eventually became that the bite hadn't been meant as retaliation or punishment, but just because Akatsuki wanted to taste his blood.

Well, fine then. It'd be nice if he'd actually tell him once in a while.

He relaxed again, rocking against Akatsuki slightly as he stroked him, his own slow, teasing pace not varying. Akatsuki was so hard, it was obvious he didn't need much encouragement to stay that way. He moaned quietly as Akatsuki pleasured him, writhing against the cold tiles of the wall. The slickness of their skin only made the whole thing even more pleasurable, and he didn't have to feign any arousal or desire.

"You want me to fuck you, Shito?" Chika murmured into the other boy's ear, scissoring his fingers inside Shito's body to emphasize the question. "You want my cock in you? Sure sounds like you want _something_. Tell me."

He wanted to hear the words, wanted - if he was being honest with himself - Shito to _beg_ him for it, just to reinforce that in this Chika alone was in control. That, and he wanted the concrete confirmation that Shito wanted this as much as he did.

"Nngh..." Shito groaned as Akatsuki scissored his entrance open and stretched him mercilessly.

He wasn't inclined to say much of anything. Noises were usually the most anyone could get out of him, but he wouldn't ignore a direct question, either. He gasped for breath for a moment. "Y-yes..." he said softly.

Well, that wasn't exactly what Chika had been after, but at this point it was good enough. He left off teasing Shito and fumbled one-handed for his bottle of shampoo, finally managing to squeeze some into his palm. He nudged Shito's hand aside and slicked the liquid over his own cock, shuddering at the slippery feel of it.

Praying that would be enough to keep him from hurting Shito too badly, Chika gripped Shito by the hips and shifted him higher against the wall, allowing him to get a better angle. His cock pressed against the tight muscle of Shito's ass, and he fought with himself to go slow so he wouldn't hurt the other boy.

Shito opened his eyes to watch this operation, not perplexed exactly, but considering it a mark of Akatsuki's inexperience that he was even bothering. He didn't object, though, and tilted his head back again with a groan as Akatsuki's member began to slide deep into his body.

He squirmed impatiently at the slow pace, his body stretching to the limit to accommodate Akatsuki, but definitely in no danger of damaging him in any real way, especially with the shampoo to help ease the way. He rocked forward, but had no leverage and couldn't force himself onto Akatsuki's cock any faster.

"A-Akatsuki," he gasped, but wouldn't quite put the words together to explain that he needn't worry. "G-good," was all that came out.

"Holy _fuck_ is it ever," Chika agreed, his whole body trembling with the effort it was taking to hold himself back. He'd never in his life felt _anything_ to compare to the tight heat of Shito's body clenched around his cock. It was dizzying - it was addictive. Chika didn't think he would ever get enough.

"You are so fucking tight," he growled, dipping his head to nip and Shito's neck again, nibbling and sucking, trying to remember not to leave marks but mostly failing. "Gods, I can't believe you. Fuck, Shito." Finally he was all the way inside Shito, his cock throbbing with the desperate need to _move_ , but he held it off as long as he could, wanting to savour the moment.

Shito gasped for breath, moaning and rocking to try to get Akatsuki even deeper inside him, but he still lacked anything approaching leverage. He lifted one leg and wrapped it around Akatsuki's waist, opening himself even wider to the penetration.

He opened his eyes and looked at the other boy. "Y-you don't have to hold back," he groaned, struggling just to remain coherent enough to say the words. "N-never would have thought you were a c-coward."

"Fuck you, Shito," Chika gasped, trembling with the effort it was taking to restrain himself. Shito squirming around like that didn't help, either. "We're doing this... _my_ way... not yours." Shito's taunting words perversely made Chika want to hold back even more, to prove that Shito couldn't goad him into action.

But he couldn't hold out forever, and a moment later he groaned and started thrusting, rocking Shito back against the tile. The heated water still streaming over them slicked both their bodies, making it easy to move and rub against each other. Chika couldn't let go of his hold on Shito's hips if he wanted to be able to keep thrusting so deeply, but he could feel the hard heat of Shito's cock grinding between their bellies, and wanted to do something about it. "Touch yourself," he ordered hoarsely. "C'mon, Shito, lemme see you do it. Get yourself off."

To Shito, Akatsuki's words were the final nail in the coffin of any doubt he might have held that the other boy realized what he was doing. He bit his ravaged lower lip, drawing in a shuddering breath as it was driven home to him that Akatsuki intended to dominate him and have things precisely how he wanted them.

The fact that he wasn't hurting Shito right now, or that Shito was enjoying the sex seemed like an entirely other matter. In the future, he might not be so kind, and there would still be nothing Shito could do about it.

Then Akatsuki drove into him, and Shito threw his head back with a cry, nearly smacking his skull hard on the tile. His hands moved to Akatsuki's shoulders and he clung for dear life for a moment before Akatsuki delivered his next order. Nodding, though he was almost mindless with the sensations - so good, and without even a bit of pain - he freed one hand and dropped it down between them, taking himself in hand and stroking hard and rapidly.

Shito was hanging onto him so tight Chika thought he would never be able to pry the other boy off. Not that he wanted to, not at the moment. All he could think about was how fucking good it felt, how amazing it was that a prickly asshole like Shito could be so hot and welcoming inside. Kiss the bastard and he folded like a hand of cards, it was amazing.

Remembering things he'd read during late nights on the internet, Chika shifted and tried to change his angle so the head of his cock would hit _that spot_ inside Shito. He wanted to see what the results would be on the remaining shreds of Shito's self control.

Shito was already caught up in the passion and arousal, unconscious of who was fucking him and not really caring. Then suddenly Akatsuki shifted inside him, and he cried out as the other boy slammed into his prostate with his next thrust.

"A-Akatsuki!" he cried, jerking roughly.

It took only a few more thrusts on that sweet spot inside him before he lost his last shred of control. He cried out one last time and then climaxed hard, his body squeezing around Akatsuki's cock as he orgasmed. He writhed helplessly, impaled on Akatsuki's cock as waves of pleasure slammed into him.

The incredible sensation of Shito's body squeezing down around his cock was far too much for Chika's fragile hold on his control. With a shout that he muffled against Shito's shoulder he came as well, almost dizzy with the force of the orgasm. His legs trembled and threatened to give way, but he stubbornly forced himself to remain standing.

He ended up panting against Shito's neck, clinging to the other boy as an anchor and trying to sort through the fog of orgasm in his brain to figure out what the fuck to do next. Just put Shito down, say 'hey, thanks!' and walk away? Somehow Chika didn't think it would be that easy.

Shito dropped his head down to rest against Akatsuki's shoulder, gasping for breath and struggling to regain some kind of poise. He dropped both hands away from Akatsuki's body, going limp against him. He fully expected the other boy to do something like what he was thinking, and certainly wasn't expecting any kind of affection.

Slowly his breathing calmed and the trembling in his body slowed and stopped. He was bone-tired, wanted to finish his shower and go to bed. But he didn't say anything, waiting for Akatsuki to give him some kind of indication of what he intended for him now.

Well, at least Shito wasn't accusing Chika of taking advantage of him this time. Chika sighed as Shito dropped his head to Chika's shoulder and went limp. The other boy was still trembling faintly; Chika waited until it seemed like Shito had mostly recovered before he slowly eased out of Shito's body and shifted until they were both firmly on their feet again. He was still leaning against Shito, mostly pinning the other boy to the wall, but it would be easy enough for Shito to push free if he wanted to.

"You are the weirdest person I have ever met," Chika asserted once again, his tone exasperated but with a note of bizarre affection hovering under the surface.

Shito was silent for a moment. He was still pinned, but not by much, and he was starting to regain his poise and control. He found his feet, straightened up a little and drew in a breath as he tried to centre himself.

He heard the other boy's words, but didn't care if he seemed weird or bizarre. Akatsuki kept saying that like it should mean something to him. And he was done with this, ready to go his separate way once again.

He glanced up at Akatsuki from under his bangs. "Are you done?" he asked coldly.

"Am I..." Chika spluttered and pulled away, the languor of post-orgasm falling away beneath his renewed anger. He glared at Shito, uncaring that they were both standing there naked. "You fucking asshole, you make it sound like this was all me. Don't make out like you didn't want it just as much as I did!"

Shito glared at him silently for a moment. It was just a simple question. Why did it have to cause so much anger?

"It was nice," he said. "Are you _done_? I was going to have a shower, and I want to get some sleep at some point tonight."

Shito lifted his hand to his forehead, running his fingers through his damp hair. "Don't be a prima donna. You think this is love? I don't know what you want from me."

"The day I'd be in love with an asshole like you is the day hell freezes over," Chika snarled, irritated. 'It was nice'. Fucking asshole.

In his heart he knew he was being unfair... _he_ didn't even know what he wanted, so how could he expect Shito to? But the bastard could still show _some_ interest in the topic, instead of acting like it didn't matter to him one way or the other. He'd certainly participated enthusiastically enough both times they'd done it so far.

The 'so far' at the end of that thought made Chika realize he was thinking as if it would definitely happen again, something he wasn't sure about at all. He flushed and turned away, ducking back under the shower and scrubbing the last of the shampoo out of his hair. "Forget it. It's just stress relief, right? Whatever."

Shito shrugged. "Right," he said in a bored tone, turning away and stepping under the spray of the other shower and grabbing the soap to scrub down his own body. Fluid dripped down and was washed away, and he closed his eyes under the fall of hot water.

Stress relief. Of course, what else could it be?

So presumably Akatsuki would let him know the next time he felt stressed and in need of relief. At least it had been pleasant enough. Honestly, Shito didn't have any complaints, despite Akatsuki's lack of experience. But if Akatsuki thought that he was going to back down in day-to-day life, he had another think coming.


	3. Chapter 3

"...two, three, four," Chika counted, checking again to make sure that there were still as many zeroes in the number as there had been the last eight times he'd looked. "Hah! Best bounty we've had yet! Can you believe this?"

He waved his account book in Shito's face, grinning so widely it threatened to split his face in half. He was practically bouncing along the hall, in so good a mood that nothing could break it. He had enough for this month's payment already, and there was still a week to go until the end of the month. That meant anything else they made this month would be cushion for the future.

"C'mon, sourpuss," he teased the other boy. "Even you've gotta admit this is a good haul. Whoo! I know! We should go for sushi tomorrow!"

Shito was pleased by the result as well, though he wasn't given to be as overt about it as Akatsuki was. He shrugged faintly, the smallest of smiles curving his lips as Akatsuki celebrated. He could smile quite widely if he wanted to - and often did at school - but this was a more genuine expression on his face.

"It's a good haul. If we went for sushi every time we got one of those, we wouldn't have nearly as much saved up," he pointed out. "Idiot."

Though his words were still sour, his tone wasn't nearly as angry as it could be. Was it possible that he was teasing Akatsuki in return? Surely not.

"It's sushi, dumbass, not a four star gourmet meal," Chika retorted. "C'mon, you've gotta be as sick of cafeteria food as I am. It's nice to eat out once in a while!" The truth was, he desperately missed the home cooking he'd gotten while living at home. He had plenty of issues with his father, but the man's cooking was not one of them. The senior Akatsuki would have made someone a good housewife, if things had gone just a little differently.

The cafeteria food in their dorm was decent, better than some he'd had. But not as good as eating out, and certainly not as good as eating at home.

Shito shrugged. Sushi was somewhat expensive, but Akatsuki was right that it wasn't as though it was the most expensive thing they could buy. "I suppose," he said. "Some variety would be nice." He did have to admit that he wasn't enamoured of the cafeteria food.

"But you can pay, since you picked the place," he added, smirking faintly.

He wasn't about to let Akatsuki have free reign, after all. He might get the idea that Shito enjoyed his company, which he most emphatically _did not_.

Normally Chika would probably have gotten irritated, but tonight he just laughed. "Yeah, sure, why not?" he agreed, jubilant. "For once I can actually afford it! And then you won't be able to complain that I'm dragging you out and forcing you to spend money." He poked Shito in the ribs with his elbow, then leaned companionably on the other boy's shoulder, grinning at him. "Better be careful, though. That makes it seem awfully like a date."

Not that he would ever, _ever_ go on a date with Shito. They might have screwed around a couple of times, and maybe they'd even do it again in the future, but those were two completely separate issues.

Shito stiffened as Akatsuki leaned on his shoulder, his lips thinning with irritation. Just because they might have screwed around a little, didn't mean he had the right to just touch him and drape all over him anytime he wanted. Especially in public.

He quickened his steps, forcing Akatsuki to lose his balance if he continued leaning on him. "I _don't_ think so," he snapped. "I wouldn't go on a date with you no matter how good the food was. That would make me the girl of the relationship, anyway."

Chika's grin widened. "Well, then you shouldn't expect me to pay for you. Besides, last I checked, you _were_." He knew that last comment was just begging for trouble, but he couldn't resist. Shito was so uptight, it was fun to be able to poke at him in ways he couldn't defend against. He _had_ let Chika fuck him, with no indication that he'd have preferred the reverse.

Shito twitched visibly. He hated feeling laughed at and belittled, especially by Akatsuki, and he wasn't inclined to take it as friendly banter. Especially on this subject which, despite the fact that Akatsuki didn't know it, was a sore one for him.

"I am not _in_ a relationship with _you_ , Akatsuki," he snapped, turning on the other boy angrily, his red eyes flashing. "Don't flatter yourself!"

"Aw, don't be like that, Shito," Chika said, mock-pouting. "You were in such a good mood." Since Shito had moved out from under Chika's arm on his shoulder, that meant Chika was now at his back. He promptly pounced on the other boy, wrapping his arms around Shito from behind, burying his face against Shito's neck. "Besides, you liked it, admit it," he murmured against the skin, then licked a place he knew from past experience was sensitive.

Shito stiffened again at the glomp, wondering what in hell Akatsuki was doing - he'd never been like this before, even after the second time they'd had sex. He was obviously in an obscenely good mood.

Then he felt Akatsuki lick his neck and hissed, closing his eyes. "Don't...don't do that," he protested, his tone faltering, though he struggled to keep it strong and angry.

Why was Akatsuki acting like they were boyfriends or something? Like he _liked_ Shito, all of a sudden? It was baffling and a little bit frightening, considering they were out in public where anyone could see. The last thing Shito wanted to do was fold where someone they knew could see it, and see how weak he was. It was bad enough that Akatsuki knew he could manipulate Shito anytime, if he really wanted to.

"Man, you're just no fun at all tonight, are you?" Chika said, rolling his eyes. He nipped at the spot just to irritate Shito and show that he wouldn't take orders, but then released Shito. He lengthened his stride, sauntering ahead and looking back over his shoulder at Shito, still grinning. "I don't know about you, but I'm totally too wound up to sleep. Come to my room." He phrased it as an order, but he half expected Shito to tell him to piss off. Chika still wasn't sure just what the hell was going through Shito's head as far as their two encounters were concerned. The asshole seemed to just love being contradictory.

But, hell, Chika was in a damned good mood, and a bit of sex would only make it better. Why the hell not?

Shito swallowed. Akatsuki had stopped, though he got the message that it was only out of some sort of kindness and not because Shito had any power in this relationship to control what the other boy did. "I just don't want anyone to see," he grumbled, his eyes sliding away.

He felt Akatsuki's eyes on him even as the other boy moved ahead, and heard the order. There was no question in Shito's mind of what the other boy wanted, and what he meant. This was the first time that he'd been ordered to attend him rather then it being spontaneous, and he stiffened slightly.

Though really, deep down, he wasn't surprised. This was just an inevitable part of the exercise, really.

"Yes, Akatsuki," he said.

The knowledge that it had been shyness - if such a word could accurately describe anything to do with Shito - and not disdain that had made Shito ask him to stop made Chika happy. He _liked_ the reaction he got when he mouthed Shito there, he didn't want to have to stop.

"Chika," he reminded the other boy, rolling his eyes. "It's not that hard to say, Shito, seriously." They reached his room and he pushed the door open, revealing the not-so-controlled chaos within. It occurred to Chika that this was the first time Shito had seen his room in its true natural state... just before the party Koyomi had nagged him into doing a half decent job of cleaning it, and Chika had grudgingly given in without knowing why.

Given Shito's own rather obsessive-compulsive tendencies, Chika had a feeling his total disorganization was going to make the other boy twitch. The room wasn't actually _dirty_ , just messy as hell, but somehow he didn't think the distinction would matter to Shito. He watched over his shoulder, just to see what the reaction would be.

Shito did indeed twitch. Though his room was cluttered with dozens of things that most people would probably be shocked Shito owned, everything that he owned was arranged in a precise location, with its orientation adjusted to best maximize his appreciation of each specific piece.

He hated _mess_.

"How can you live like this?" he demanded, bending down and grabbing a number of wrinkled t-shirts and chucking them in the laundry hamper. Then he went after the refuse on Akatsuki's table.

"It's comfortable!" Chika half-protested, half-laughed. Yeah, that was about what he'd expected Shito to do. "Stop that, you're gonna ruin my system. I hate it when people clean up after me, I can never find anything."

Since he doubted very much that mere words would be enough to overcome Shito's OCD, he decided on a physical distraction instead. With Shito's hands still half-full of junk, Chika pinned him against the nearest wall and kissed him deeply, closing his eyes to better savour the taste of the other boy. It was still just as good as he'd remembered.

Comfortable? That was ridiculous. The random clutter all over couldn't possibly be a system, and Shito snorted, ignoring him completely. Then he felt Akatsuki grab him.

Shito stiffened as Akatsuki suddenly pinned him and kissed him. With a soft sigh of defeat, he closed his eyes and returned the kiss slowly, his hands dropping to his sides, though he just couldn't bear to drop the garbage on the floor.

This was rapidly becoming familiar territory, and Chika slid his hands up under Shito's shirt to tease at the other boy's nipples in the way he'd found Shito liked best. Chika purred his approval as Shito melted against him, and swiped his tongue deeper into Shito's mouth in response.

He was pretty sure he would never, ever understand Shito, and very much doubted he would ever come to _like_ the other boy. But Chika didn't mind desiring him, not if it was going to be this good every time. And at least at moments like these, Shito wasn't trying quite so hard to push all his buttons.

Well, not the ones that made him angry, anyway.

The problem that Shito had was that he _thought_ he understood Akatsuki, and was just mostly wrong. He sighed softly as Akatsuki thrust his tongue into his mouth, curling his own tongue over the other boy's and duelling with it without gaining any ground.

He couldn't use his hands, so he rocked forward, sliding his knee between Akatsuki's legs and rubbing the other boy's crotch with his thigh. He wasn't sure what he was going to do about the contents of his hands, but this was a bit annoying.

Realizing that Shito was refusing to use his hands - and why - Chika pulled back from the kiss and huffed a laugh. "You just can't bear to let it go, can you?" Well, if Shito was going to occupy his own hands, Chika would happily take advantage of the opportunity presented. If Shito objected, he could damn well drop the stuff.

He stopped tormenting Shito's nipples and dropped his hands to Shito's belt instead, rocking back against the other boy's steady motion. He quickly got Shito's pants undone and pushed them down over the other boy's hips, shoving the underwear as well to leave Shito's erection free.

Shito coloured at Akatsuki's laugh, his fingers tightening and the wrappers he was holding crinkling in his hands. "I don't want to make your room even _more_ messy," he growled. "And step all over it." It was insane, but he just couldn't stand the idea of dropping the garbage on the ground. It'd make the room even messier then it was when he'd walked in.

He squirmed a little as Akatsuki undid his belt and dropped his pants and underwear, leaving him exposed from the waist down. He drew in a breath, dropping his head back against the wall and closing his eyes. "A-Akatsuki..."

"Chi-ka," Chika said, emphasizing the syllables. "You are so anal." There was something he'd been wanting to do since Shito had mentioned it that first time together - though not quite the way Shito had suggested. Shito tasted so damned good everywhere else, Chika wanted to see how he'd taste _there_ as well.

Without bothering to warn the other boy, he dropped to his knees and ran his tongue over the head of Shito's cock. The taste was musky and heavy compared with the sweetness of his mouth or the salt tang of his neck, but Chika decided he still liked it.

Shito ignored Akatsuki's words. He wasn't about to start calling him Chika, regardless of what he said. Akatsuki could get mad at him if he wanted, he didn't care. It was the one tiny defiance Shito could manage in this situation, and he clung to it fiercely.

Then he jerked violently, his eyes flying open in surprise as Akatsuki's tongue slipped over his cock. His breathing suddenly deepened and he gasped for breath, the wrappers crinkling again. After a second, he dropped the garbage after all, a hand coming up and catching Akatsuki's hair lightly, to steady him. "W-what..." he managed, not objecting or trying to pull him away at all. He was just shocked and surprised.

With a soft chuckle at the reaction, Chika repeated the motion, then slipped the head into his mouth and wrapped his lips around it. Shito was _not_ small, and he had a feeling his jaw was going to be sore if this took very long... but fuck, it was worth it for that shocked noise Shito had made as Chika had tongued him.

Chika had _no_ experience at this, but he'd heard enough off-colour jokes and seen enough pornos to know the basics. He took it slow, figuring it would be better to explore now and figure out what made Shito moan the loudest, than to try to rush and fuck it up somehow.

Shito's knees weakened and his fingers clenched convulsively in Akatsuki's hair as he struggled not to lose it completely. He gasped helplessly, soft moans escaping his throat as Akatsuki pleasured him with his mouth. It wasn't that no one had _ever_ done this before - some exorcists had odd tastes - but it had certainly been decades since he'd had a mouth in that particular area.

He squirmed helplessly against the wall, struggling not to move too much when his body wanted to thrust hard into that hot, wet mouth.

The fingers holding so tight to his hair hurt a little, but Chika found the pain just made him hyper aware of everything, especially every move and noise Shito made. He made a little humming noise of encouragement, feeling the way the other boy was trembling against him. Probably from trying not to thrust into Chika's mouth, which Chika was grateful for. He hadn't expected that much courtesy, honestly.

He wrapped his tongue around the shaft of Shito's cock and dragged it up and down along with his mouth, scraping his teeth delicately against the tip each time he came up that far. He could taste salt-bitter precome on Shito now, and it made his own cock harden painfully against the fly of his jeans.

The touch of Akatsuki's teeth only drove Shito even wilder. He moaned and cried out, his hips shivering with the effort not to thrust forward. And slowly the cries grew more and more urgent.

Drawing in a shuddering breath, Shito managed to gasp out, "A-Akatsuki, if you don't want this to end right now..."

Pulling back and letting the hard cock slip out of his mouth, Chika looked up at Shito. The other boy was flushed and panting, trembling with the battle to keep his control. He looked fucking hot, in other words. Chika gave him a cheeky grin. "What makes you think that's not exactly what I want?" he purred.

And before Shito could say anything, Chika swallowed the other boy's cock as deeply as he could. He couldn't quite make it all the way to the base, but very nearly, and his throat muscles worked around the head. He wouldn't be able to keep that up more than a few seconds, but that was why he'd waited until he was sure Shito was about to come.

Shito's eyes widened, but with those words he certainly wasn't about to hold back. His hips convulsed as Akatsuki swallowed him almost to the hilt, and his fingers twitched as he struggled with every fibre of his being to keep from thrusting forward.

Then he let out one last cry as his climax hit him and he spurted fluid deep into Akatsuki's mouth. His head hit the wall, as he threw it back, the cry rising towards the ceiling as waves of ecstasy ran through him and milked him of every drop.

Chika choked and was forced to pull back, which meant he got a good mouthful of the foul stuff. He made a face, but swallowed it anyway, because he'd want someone to do the same for him. He'd heard it felt better. He continued to lap gently at Shito's tip with his tongue, even after he'd stopped coming, until the other boy was shuddering against him.

Finally he rocked back on his heels and grinned up at Shito, wiping his mouth with the back of one hand. "Not bad."

Shito sank downwards when Akatsuki released him, sitting on the floor amongst the fallen wrappers with his knees up near his chin. He leaned forward to rest his head on them and struggled to catch his breath without much success.

He heard the other boy's words as approval, and nodded. "Thanks," he murmured.

Snorting softly with amusement, Chika looked at him. He'd been referring mostly to the fact that he thought _he'd_ done a decent job, but whatever. Leaning over Shito, he slowly dragged his tongue along the long column of the other boy's neck, just to watch him shiver. Chika was overheated and aching with need, but seeing Shito so vulnerable for a change was worth waiting.

For a minute or two, anyway.

Shito's eyes slipped closed and he moaned softly. He was still recovering, and he really didn't want to be fucked by Akatsuki while on the floor of his room, amongst the garbage and the stale clothing.

He opened his eyes and looked at him inscrutably. If he were going to ask a question, it was probably best to do it before Akatsuki jumped him again. And from the visible bulge in Akatsuki's jeans, that wasn't going to be too long from now.

He reached out and slid his fingers into Akatsuki's white and black hair. "Can we do this on the bed instead of the floor?" he asked, an edge of distaste coming into his tone.

To Shito's surprise, Chika agreed easily. "Sure," he said, shrugging and leaning into the touch in his hair with his eyes half closed. He smiled. "That was gonna be my next suggestion, anyway. I don't really wanna stay on the floor, either."

Though if he'd been in just a bit less of a good mood, he might have decided to insist on staying where they were just to see that look of horrified distaste in Shito's eyes worsen. _Then_ he'd have given in, of course, because really, who wanted to get rug burns when there was a perfectly good bed two feet away?

Shito had thought he _probably_ didn't have strong feelings about it, though he had expected Akatsuki to make him crazy at least a little before agreeing, or make him pay in some way for trying to assert himself. He was glad he hadn't, though.

He released the other boy and got to his feet, moving to the bed. He pulled off his shirt as he walked, not waiting for Akatsuki to complain, folded it and set it aside, then laid down and stretched out on his back. And waited, his head supported on his hand as he turned to look at Akatsuki with a mostly neutral expression.

The sex had been very good last time. Not painful at all, and even solicitous to his own needs. He wouldn't say he couldn't live without it, but he wasn't unhappy this time. Sooner or later Akatsuki would push the envelope again, but for now it was almost...pleasant.

Chika had stripped off his own shirt and had his hands on his belt, but he'd stopped moving and was just staring at Shito with a very odd look on his face. Lust, hell yes, plenty of that showed in his expression and especially in the heated gaze that was raking slowly over Shito's body. There was a certain amount of proprietary pleasure as well. But there was also something just a little stunned, like Chika couldn't quite believe this was really happening.

In truth, he _couldn't_. If anyone had told him a month ago that this would happen, much less happen _repeatedly_ , he'd have laughed in their faces. Also, he couldn't believe anyone could be as fucking beautiful as Shito was and be real. So he drank in the sight like a man in the desert drinks down water, and just stared.

Shito returned the gaze, watching Akatsuki watching him. He knew what Akatsuki was seeing, even thought he had a pretty good idea of what was running through the other boy's head. He had seen that look of unbridled, proprietary lust on the faces of many men over the years he'd been alive, and it didn't discomfit him.

He was a beautiful monster, he knew that. A precious jewel of the Xu Fu, who would never grow old and become repulsive to the men who controlled and trained him to serve the clan.

He gazed at Akatsuki in silence, waiting with seemingly infinite patience. Akatsuki would get around to it sooner or later, and he wasn't really in any rush to go anywhere. He didn't know if, when Akatsuki was done with him, he'd be told to stay or to go, and until then he might as well stay where he was.

Finally realizing that he was just standing there in a daze, Chika shook his head and snapped out of it. He quickly stripped off the rest of his clothes, aware of Shito watching him and flushing with pleasure at the thought. "So," he murmured as he approached the bed. "You got another round in you, or do you just wanna return the favour?" He didn't really care either way - he was really curious to see if Shito's talent with his tongue extended to more than just kissing, but on the other hand he wanted to feel that incredible hot tightness around his cock again.

A look of surprise crossed Shito's face at the question. Akatsuki was asking him for his _opinion_ on what they should do next?

Then the expression turned wary.

"I'm up for whichever you prefer," he said suspiciously. It had to be some kind of test, to see what he'd say. Maybe if he expressed an opinion - and he really didn't care that much, anyway - Akatsuki would do the opposite just to prove something. Or perhaps he would simply be punished for trying to exert a kind of control over the situation.

Intellectually, he wasn't sure if Akatsuki had thought that deeply about the dynamics inherent in all of this. But most of Shito's concerns were subconscious as well.

Chika had to laugh. He shook his head and collapsed down onto the bed next to Shito, his throbbing cock hard against the other boy's hip but his hand surprisingly gentle as he ran his fingers idly over Shito's chest. "For a guy who's such a control freak in everyday life, you sure give it up quick in bed, don't you?" Maybe it was just Shito's way of relaxing - the one time he _could_ allow himself not to be in control. Maybe that was why he didn't fight whenever Chika approached him - and why he always got pissy about it afterwards. It had to just about kill him to have to acknowledge that desire to give up control.

"All right, then," he murmured, leaning in to run his tongue over the skin his fingers had just traced. "If you really don't care, how about you show me how good you are with that tongue?"

At Akatsuki's words, Shito glanced away, his expression pulling down in shame for a moment. Of course he couldn't expect Akatsuki not to notice - of course he had - and he didn't really expect Akatsuki to understand why. In fact, he wouldn't tell him why, no matter what. Hell no. He'd die first.

"It's just the way I am," he muttered, his skin shivering at the touch of Akatsuki's tongue. "Don't think it means I'm weak," he added, a bit roughly, as he pushed himself up and shifted around to nestle between Akatsuki's thighs.

 

Even if _Shito_ thought it made him weak, he couldn't afford for Akatsuki to think so all the time, or he'd be as bad in his own way as Toho.

"Weak? _You_?" Chika hooted with laughter. "This from the guy who threatens to kill me half a dozen times a day? It's just nice to know you're _human_ , not some kinda perfect robot or something." He supposed he could see why Shito would be self-conscious about it, though. Briefly Chika wondered if Shito had had some other lover who had teased him for it.

Well, if so, it was their damned loss, and Chika's gain. _He_ sure as hell wasn't complaining! He reached out and threaded his fingers through Shito's hair the same way Shito had done to him, his grin predatory. "Trust me, Shito, it's not like I'm gonna start expecting you to go all submissive on me or something." He snorted again in amusement. "Hell, if you did I think I'd have to assume you were possessed or something!"

Akatsuki's response relieved Shito more then he could say. He frowned up at the other boy, his relief tempered by a wariness and distrust that was all-too-apparent on his face. "Well good, then," he growled. "Because I won't. P-push me too far and I'll kill you, asshole."

It had taken a lot of effort to get those words out without stammering too much, and in his usual tone of voice, while Akatsuki's cock bobbed flushed and hard right in front of his nose, but he hoped he'd managed it.

Cheeks flaming, he leaned forward and took Akatsuki's cock into his mouth, swirling his tongue around the tip and then plunging his head down until the head scraped against the back of his throat. His gag reflex was nonexistent, and he was determined to distract Akatsuki from any suspicions he might have. He was pretty sure this would suffice.

"Yeah, yeah, you'll... oh, fucking _hell_ , Shito!" Chika broke off his teasing and threw his head back on the pillow, gasping when Shito all but swallowed him whole. How the hell did he _do_ that without choking?

However he managed it, Chika prayed he would never, ever stop. It so unbelievably fucking good that he couldn't have described it if his life had depended on it. Moaning, he struggled against his instinct to thrust, not wanting to choke Shito. Shito hadn't done it to him, after all.

Shito swallowed around the cock in his mouth, his throat muscles fluttering against the sensitive flesh. He knew how good that would feel, and he smirked faintly around the obstruction in his mouth. It seemed that he had successfully distracted Akatsuki, just as he'd hoped. Certainly Akatsuki wasn't thinking about why Shito acted so strangely in bed right now. All he was likely thinking about was how skilled Shito was.

He began to bob his head up and down, moaning and humming softly in the back of his throat to provide even more stimulation. He wouldn't try to stop Akatsuki from thrusting into his mouth if he did lose control. Regardless, he knew he would be able to ride it out without a problem.

Chika fought with everything he had, but in the end he couldn't stop his hips from snapping up in time to Shito's bobbing motion. Shito was just too fucking good at it, and Chika lost all remnants of restraint. With his hands tight in Shito's hair, he thrust one last time hard into Shito's mouth and stopped trying to fight his orgasm. He came hard, though not as hard as he had inside Shito's body.

Finally he collapsed, wrung out and moaning, onto the pillow. He looked down his body with a dazed expression. "That was... fuck, Shito. Damn." Despite himself, he was impressed.

Shito squeezed his eyes shut as Akatsuki held him still and fucked his mouth hard enough to hurt. He managed somehow not to choke even on that, and then took the rush of warm fluid that flowed into his mouth, swallowing it quickly and suckling gently at the spent cock as it twitched and pulsed into his mouth, then finally softened and grew limp.

He lifted his head then, Akatsuki having already released him, and looked up with lips swollen from the abuse. "Glad you enjoyed it," he said, somewhat ironically.

Chika heard the hoarseness in Shito's voice and saw the swollen state of his mouth, and felt a pang of regret. "Uh. Sorry," he mumbled, flushing. "You could've pulled back, you know. You're too fucking good at that, I couldn't stop myself." Yawning, he curled up on his side and patted the empty half of the bed in a clear invitation. He didn't actually expect Shito to take him up on it - they already had a history of parting badly at the end of an encounter. The first one didn't count because they'd both come closer to passing out in drunken stupor than to actually falling asleep.

Not that he would complain if Shito did decide to stay. He just didn't think it was likely. "Thanks," he murmured sleepily, realizing belatedly that he hadn't said that yet.

Shito stared at him dumbfoundedly for a moment, first for the apology, then for the fact that Akatsuki had just informed him that he could have pulled back. And then for the thanks.

He crawled upwards and dropped down next to Akatsuki, uncertain of what exactly he wanted now. Just to spoon? To... _cuddle_ , or was he not quite spent yet? Shito was pretty sure it wasn't the latter, but he was quite certain it couldn't really be the former. Akatsuki hated him. Why would he want to cuddle?

He curled up on his side with his back to the other boy, frowning faintly.

Chika cracked open an eye when he felt the mattress dip next to him, and smiled when he saw Shito lying stiffly with his back turned to Chika. Chuckling softly, Chika hitched himself forward and wound his arm around the other boy's waist, pulling him back a bit until they fit snugly together. "Won't fit on the bed, otherwise," he explained around a yawn. "Try not to boot me outta the bed headfirst this time, 'kay?"

Shito frowned deeply, then forced himself to relax into the embrace. This was...odd. He hadn't had to sleep with anyone very often, and a part of him wanted his own room, and his own familiar bed. He didn't like being... _on_ for so long.

But as it went, it could be worse.

"Fine," he muttered. "I won't." And he closed his eyes.


	4. Chapter 4

Watching Shito walk away to the baths, Chika's shoulders drooped. There went his last hope for company tonight. The girls seemed pretty determined not to budge on the issue, and Shito...

Chika _could_ have - he was fairly certain he could have - just kissed the bastard and forced the issue. Shito had never once turned him away when he'd wanted sex, melting beneath him the moment Chika's mouth touched skin like it was some kind of button. But any other time, Shito was still just as much a bastard as ever.

Tonight, Chika didn't really want sex. Sex was about lust, and need, and heat. Worse, Shiba had been the very first person Chika had ever done anything sexual with, though it had only been the shy fumbling of two adolescents experimenting and had never gone past handjobs. Hell, they'd never even _kissed_. Still, sex would be one more painful reminder, and that was the last thing Chika needed.

No, what he desperately wanted tonight was confirmation that Shito _wasn't_ purely using him for sex, that there was some grain of real affection beneath all their growling and snarling and fighting. Shito had let Chika lean on him on the rooftop, hadn't he? Sure, he'd been pissy about it, but he hadn't moved. So why couldn't he just do this one thing, and let Chika sleep with him tonight?

Turning, Chika started to head back to his room, dreading the night to come. He would spend the whole night brooding, he just _knew_ it.

He paused just outside Shito's door, eyeing it thoughtfully. None of them had locks on their doors. He _could_ just walk right in and make himself comfortable. He'd never actually been _in_ Shito's room. If Shito kicked him out, well... then he would at least know for sure, and Chika didn't think he'd ever bother going to Shito for sex again. It was fun, but he was starting to realize that deep down, he wanted at least a little more than just lust.

Letting himself inside, he arranged himself on the bed. He munched on a bag of chips and some pop he'd brought with him while he waited for Shito to finish in the baths. The moment he heard the other boy's footsteps, he dropped the chips and pop and sprawled out on the bed, pretending to be deeply asleep. Maybe, if Shito thought he was already asleep, he would also think it was too much trouble to drag Chika out again.

Shito returned from the baths and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the intruder in his bed. His eyes went from the sleeping boy, to the chip bag with crumbs spilling out of it, to the tipped-over can of pop, and veins started popping out on his forehead.

He stalked across the room and grabbed Akatsuki by the collar, intending to throw him out bodily, then hesitated when he saw his sleeping face a bit closer.

Not that he was really sleeping. He smashed his fist into Akatsuki's forehead. "If you're going to sneak into my room, the least you could do is not fake sleeping, you idiot!"

"Itte!" Chika was jolted out of his fake sleep by the sudden blow to the head. He sat up, rubbing his head sheepishly, looking up at Shito. The other boy didn't look impressed - or any more likely to relent about letting Chika stay with him. Catching sight of the spilled pop and chips from the corner of his eyes, Chika winced. Yeah, that probably hadn't endeared him to his partner, either.

"Aha-ha," he laughed awkwardly, trying to play it like it was a joke. Under no circumstances could he let Shito realize just how desperate he really was. "What? I fell asleep while I was waiting for you to come back."

"Hmph," Shito snorted. He turned around and sat down on the edge of the bed, pulling the towel up over his head and rubbing at his wet hair. "You were badly faking sleep. You deserved to be punched," he added.

Akatsuki had been so depressed earlier, he recalled. He'd even asked Shito if he could stay with him tonight. Not wanting to give Akatsuki even a bit of leeway, Shito had refused, and yet here he was again. He didn't seem angry, either, just...sad, under the false laughter.

It wasn't worth the battle of trying to kick him out.

Chika waited, but the expected snarl of 'Get out!' never came. After a few moments, he eyed Shito nervously and asked, "So, aren't you gonna kick me out?"

He'd meant it to sound like teasing, but the words came out small and high, like a scared little kid. Chika cursed himself and rolled over, putting his back to Shito and propping his head on his hand like he didn't care.

"Tch," Shito snorted. "It's not worth the aggravation."

He just sat where he was, rubbing at his hair with the towel. It was a little disconcerting to hear that tone in Akatsuki's voice.

And Shito really didn't know what to do to help. Or even if he _wanted_ to help.

Disbelieving, Chika lay there for a moment, still expecting Shito to change his mind and kick him out after all. When nothing happened after a long moment, he sighed. "Na. What do you suppose happens to a zombie when it dies?"

It was something he had wondered for a long time. He knew the little ritual they did when they slew a zombie was supposed to send the soul on to heaven or whatever... but was it the same for a zombie who got reaped? They were... abominations, after all. Something the reapers didn't think were supposed to exist. What if they just... destroyed them?

Shito stopped rubbing with the towel and let his hands fall into his lap, gazing into the middle distance. He knew why Akatsuki was asking, but he didn't have an answer for him. It was something he'd also wondered many times over the years, for a different reason.

"I have no idea," he admitted. "But the Grim Reaper took him. I'm sure that means he went to wherever he was supposed to be."

He didn't think that their souls just disappeared. They were supposed to be guiding those abominations to the afterlife, bringing them rest. He had to believe that wherever they went was better then here.

"Yeah. You're right," Chika agreed, drawing aimless patterns against the sheet with his finger. _Probably. I sure hope so._

Either way, he hoped Shiba was happy, if such a thing was possible. He still felt guilty for having grown apart from his old friend, if he had been so important to the other boy's stability. Then again, was it really his fault? Shiba was the one who'd gone off to the fancy top-ranked high school. Chika had remained where he'd always been... at least, until the accident had happened.

And who the hell had turned Shiba into a zombie and put such fucked-up ideas into his head, anyway? Chika was seriously going to kill them when he finally tracked them down.

Shito sighed softly and rose from the bed. He hung up his towel and puttered around the room, picking up the chip bag and the pop and cleaning up the spillage, putting things away in his tidy and precise way. He had dropped his box of toiletries when he first entered the room and now he picked it all up and put it away.

Finally he switched off the light and approached the bed. "Wherever he is, I'm certain it's better for him than being alive as a monstrosity. It was clearly...not good for him," he said, a little bit awkwardly. They were cruel, blunt words, but also words he meant to be comforting in a strange way.

Akatsuki's depression was extremely unnerving to him.

Chika snorted, the sound angry. "I can't believe he killed himself in the first place. He's as bad as Michiru was, before she got shocked into living. I don't understand people like that at all."

The darkness wrapped around them, and he knew if he'd been alone it would have just sent him further into a funk. As it was, it let him relax a bit, not have to pretend quite so hard to be normal in front of Shito, and just take the comfort of the other boy's presence that he'd come for in the first place.

When Shito slid into the bed next to him, Chika rolled over and settled against his side. He tucked his head into Shito's shoulder, for once taking the 'girl's' role. He wanted the feel of Shito's arms around him, not the other way around.

Shito hadn't been planning on touching Akatsuki, though he was aware that it might have helped, perhaps. He stiffened as Akatsuki rolled over then, grudgingly, slipped his arms around the other boy and shifted until they were both comfortable.

"I don't understand people like that, either," he said coldly. "If he was so bored, he should have just found something else to do. He wasn't _that_ smart. It's stupid to give up like that."

"I dunno, he was pretty damned smart," Chika replied, his lips twitching despite himself. "People always wondered why the guy with the top grades in the prefecture and the lowest grades in the school hung out together. And why my grades weren't better if I had such a smart friend to help me."

There were so many memories, so many things that were struggling to come to the surface. He shoved them away, not wanting to think about them. Not now, not yet. Not when all his happy memories of his friendship with Shiba would only be tainted by his current anger and sorrow towards the other boy. Later, when some of the worst of the storm had passed, maybe then he would be able to think of those times without ruining them.

"He was smart," Shito conceded, shrugging. "But not so smart as to justify that. He probably had things that could challenge him, that didn't involve killing people and corrupting himself. It didn't justify killing himself. That's all I meant."

He doubted that this was helping, and he frowned, falling silent. His arms tightened slightly around the other boy. He just didn't know what to do that would help.

"No, it doesn't justify it at all," Chika agreed, his voice low and harsh. "He might've been the smartest guy I've ever met, but he was damned stupid sometimes."

He felt Shito's arm squeeze closer around him, and curled a little closer in response. It helped, more than he could say, to have Shito there. It could have been anybody, really - anyone who would have held him and reminded him he was still alive, still human, despite everything that had happened. That someone still cared about him.

But he was glad it had been Shito in the end.

"Shito? ...thanks." The murmur was barely audible, and Chika closed his eyes and resolved not to answer anything Shito might say. He was asleep, really he was.

Shito heartily agreed. There were different varieties of smart, and that Shiba was definitely really, really _idiotic_ on most of those planes. He felt Akatsuki snuggle closer and closed his eyes, thinking that Akatsuki was going to sleep until he heard those soft words of thanks.

He muttered. "Whatever," he growled. "Don't let me catch you sneaking into my bed again."

He couldn't very well let Akatsuki think he was making inroads towards Shito doing what he wanted anytime he liked, could he?

Despite himself Chika smiled again, his lips curving against Shito's chest in such a way that the other boy would surely feel it. But Chika didn't care. Shito might be complaining, but he was doing it the same way he'd complained about Chika being heavy earlier - bitching, but not moving out from under him, still offering the support Chika needed. Shito just couldn't do _anything_ without bitching, that was all.

Reassured, Chika closed his eyes again. Although he'd expected not to get a wink of sleep all night, he felt exhaustion creeping up on him and he welcomed it. At least when he was asleep, he wouldn't have to think about anything.

* * *

Shito stumbled a little on an uneven part of the sidewalk and caught himself on a nearby wall, gasping with pain. "Fuck...he just did...whatever he wanted," he growled to himself as he struggled to walk without showing just how badly-off he was. Thankfully there was no one around to see. He didn't think he would be able to stand any of their false sympathy.

He tottered into the graveyard behind the dorm and dropped down to sit on top of one of the graves, drawing his knees up to this chest and wrapping his arms around them. He buried his face in his knees and struggled to catch his breath. It was going to take some time to recover from this, and all he wanted was to be alone.

It was actually a nice day out, and Chika found he still didn't much like being cooped up alone in his room. He felt a lot better about everything since they'd gotten back from their little 'vacation', at least. Seeing his father and sister again had helped a lot, as well. Or at least, seeing his sister helped. His father was still just as annoying as ever. Some days Chika thought that maybe even when he was human again, he might stay in a dorm instead of going home. Except then he'd never get to see his adorable little Momoka.

Grinning at the thought, he decided to take the long way around the former church to his room from the front gate, instead of just going right back inside. When he passed by the graveyard, however, he was startled to see Shito sitting slumped over on one of the graves. He looked like he had a killer headache. Was it possible for zombies to suffer headaches?

Changing his path, he wandered over to the cemetery and leaned over to peer at Shito's face. "Yo!"

Shito stiffened when he heard Akatsuki's greeting.

"What do you want?" he growled, quickly looking up and glaring heatedly at the other boy. The last thing he needed were a lot of penetrating questions about what was going on with him, and if he gave any hint of how weak he felt right now, it was certain that Akatsuki would annoy him until he gave in and told him.

He couldn't tell him about Toho. He _couldn't_.

"You don't look so good," Chika replied. Studying him, Chika saw the clear signs of strain on Shito's face. He knew the other boy well enough by now to know when he wasn't at his best. Shito hadn't been like this on the drive home. What on earth had happened in the few hours since then?

"It doesn't concern you," Shito growled.

Deciding to let Shito keep some of his dignity, Chika teased him instead of acknowledging the deep pain he could see hovering in the depths of Shito's eyes. "I see. Did you get a stomach ache even though you're a zombie?" He grinned.

"That'd be impossible. Idiot," Shito snapped, not looking at him. What was his problem? Didn't he understand that Shito wanted to be left _alone_? He turned to snarl at the other boy, and saw the eager, expectant look on his face, devoid of malice, but looking forward to whatever he was going to say.

Suddenly he was overwhelmed with the inevitability of it. He shook his head. "Forget it," he said, lowering his head and pressing his fingertips to his forehead. "I'm tired," he said softly.

To his further amazement and chagrin, suddenly Akatsuki was right beside him. He pinched Shito's left cheek and began tugging.

"What the fuck are you doing?" he growled, glowering again.

Chika had never seen Shito in a bad mood quite like this one before. Shito hadn't even yelled at him yet, and that was starting to seriously worry Chika. So he set out to be as obnoxious as he thought he could get away with and not get killed, hoping to prod the other boy out of his funk.

"Well, you looked so gloomy," he explained blithely, still pulling at Shito's cheek. "There's always someone like you, who never wants to show their weak side." There - if accusing Shito of _having_ a weak side didn't earn him a punch, nothing would.

And if it didn't... he was going to have to go to Bekko and Yuuta to see if there _was_ such a thing as an illness zombies could catch, or something.

At Akatsuki's words, Shito suddenly realized that he was just _sitting_ there, allowing Akatsuki to poke at him physically and with words, and hadn't even tried to get him to stop. Not only that, but Akatsuki had just called him weak, and he hadn't even thought to retaliate.

Almost as an afterthought, he punched Akatsuki right in the face.

"It really isn't as good when I'm not my usual self," he said, looking at his reddened knuckles, perplexed.

Though he was relieved beyond words to have Shito reacting normally at last, Chika didn't let it show. He jumped to his feet, clutching his aching cheekbone, and snarled at his partner. "Hey! You used your fists without warning! I'm gonna kill you!"

That ought to get Shito on his feet as well, and then they could start fighting just like they always did. And things could finally, finally go back to normal for everyone.

Shito didn't disappoint. He was up on his feet in a moment, grabbing Akatsuki by the shirt. "Oh yeah?" he snapped, forgetting the pain and exhaustion that dragged at him in a surge of adrenaline. "I'd like to see you try!"

In a way, it was a relief for him, too. Despite his previous words, despite his exhaustion, he did feel more alive when he was... _feeling_. Even true anger was an emotion that relieved the unrelenting numbness of his twisted existence.

That was more like it. Chika's eyes lit up, and his grin went a little manic. "Bring it on, you curly-haired weirdo!" he taunted. "Let's go!"

* * *

If Chika had been a girl, he'd probably have been skipping on his way back to his room. He was feeling pretty damned good. They'd gotten a free meal - and since Otsu had paid rather than Bekko, they'd actually gotten to eat something other than the blue plates. Shito had mostly shaken whatever weird mood he'd been in earlier - they'd bickered as usual all through dinner. Chika had made sure to sit in _front_ of Shito so the bastard couldn't steal all his favourite dishes this time, too. Best of all he'd gotten to see his adorable little sister today, even if he'd had to put up with his father at the same time.

All in all, he felt like he was finally able to put the whole fuck-up with Shiba behind him. Yeah, it had happened, and yeah, it had sucked, but Chika was still alive (by some definitions) and that was all that really mattered. He wouldn't give up, ever. And what was the point of being alive if all he was gonna do was brood over the past?

Seeing that he and Shito were alone in their wing, Chika pounced onto the other boy's back as he so often did. Shito had never yet initiated anything between them, but he'd also never said 'no' when Chika did so, and it had been a while since the last time they'd fucked. "Oi, Shito, come to my room," he wheedled, running his mouth over the back of Shito's neck.

Shito grunted when Akatsuki glomped him, the pain in his back flaring up again from the dull throb it had settled to. He stiffened as Akatsuki ran his mouth over the back of his neck, the touch sending shivers down his spine and his knees started to weaken. There was no question of what Akatsuki wanted, and he opened his mouth to agree automatically. Especially after the day he'd had, the idea of refusing sent a cold fist of ice straight into his stomach.

But if Akatsuki got his clothes off, he'd see the marks. He would see what had happened to Shito today, and there would be awkward questions. Not only that, but he'd realize just how weak Shito was, just how badly Akatsuki could mistreat him without Shito being able to gather the will to try to stop him or protest.

That seemed even worse, and he squeezed his eyes shut, feeling ill.

"I...I..." he whispered, his terror struggling with decades of conditioning. "Is it all right, if I don't, tonight?" he asked softly. "I'm really not...in the mood."

Heart thumping in his chest, he waited for Akatsuki's angry reply and an outright order to attend him.

Chika froze against him, so startled by the unexpected refusal that he just went still for a moment. Then he lifted his head and looked at Shito, one eyebrow raised.

It wasn't hard to tell that Shito was serious... and also that he was telling the truth. Chika had thought the other boy was recovered from whatever had been bugging him that afternoon, but there were still clear signs of it now.

Shrugging, he released Shito and stepped back, stretching. "Maa. If you're not, you're not." He gave Shito a wry smile, tilting his head. "That makes me feel a little better, actually... I was starting to wonder if you'd _ever_ say no to anything in bed. Other than using my damned name, anyway." He made a face, then turned to head for his room instead. He waved over his shoulder, not looking back. "You know where to find me if you change your mind. Or if you need anything else."

Shito had felt the other boy freeze and startle, and had steeled himself for a demand of some kind. When Akatsuki released him and capitulated instead, with no signs of any anger or disappointment - and in fact saying that he was _relieved_ \- Shito couldn't make that make sense.

He stood for a moment, utterly stunned, and belatedly turned towards Akatsuki, his jaw still halfway to the floor.

But Akatsuki was already gone. Shito stood stupidly for a few moments, then turned and hurried away. He still felt sick with terror, but was beginning to calm down. Why hadn't Akatsuki even been upset? He couldn't understand it.

But...was it possible he might be able to say no to other things, too?


	5. Chapter 5

Shito worried at the problem for the next few days. Akatsuki hadn't renewed his attention, but that wasn't unusual. They had gone days or even weeks without having sex many times before, and it was likely that Akatsuki was tired or simply not in the mood. But the fact that he hadn't tried to make Shito make it up to him in any way only added to the perplexity.

Finally, on the third evening, when the signs of Toho's torture had faded completely, Shito went to Akatsuki's door and knocked.

He really had no idea what was going to come out of his mouth when Akatsuki answered the door, but he stood there nervously, waiting.

Chika had been playing loud music on his headphones while he studied, so he almost didn't hear the knock. It intruded on his conscious awareness in a belated sort of way, and he blinked and lifted his head. Pulling the headphones off, he turned to look at the door. "Yeah? C'mon in, not like it locks," he invited whoever was out there. Michiru, probably, or maybe Koyomi come to ask him for something. Maybe Bekko had summoned them again. That would be good, since it would probably mean either a free meal or a target to hunt.

Shito opened the door at the invitation and paused, staring at the boy on the bed.

"I..." he said. Maybe this was a bad time.

But no, he had chosen this time. _He_ had chosen it.

He crossed the room quickly and sat down on the bed. "I'm ready now," he blurted, feeling like an idiot.

"Ha?" Chika stared at him, baffled, notebook dangling forgotten from his fingers. It didn't take a genius to realize that Shito wasn't talking about being ready to hunt or something like that. The only time Shito ever showed that particular mix of stiffness and submission was when they were doing something sexual.

But this was the first time Shito had initiated anything since the very first encounter, and then he'd been drunk. Chika's eyes narrowed and he sat up, the music still blaring from the headphones hanging around his neck. "Hey, wait a sec. You're not drunk again, are you?"

Shito twitched with irritation at the question. The stupidity of the question served to dispel some of his nerves and he squared his shoulders, fixing Akatsuki with a glare. "Is it so impossible to think I might want sex when I'm not drunk?" he asked irritably. "If you think I only want you when I'm drunk, then why have you been throwing yourself at me every few days like a horny rabbit?"

So far, so good. Right?

Maybe?

Chika's lips twitched, and he choked down a snicker. That would probably just make Shito punch him, and if the asshole was _finally_ making a first move, Chika didn't want to scare him off. "C'mon, gimme a break!" he protested. "It's been like, six months and the _only_ time you've ever come to me instead of the other way around was when you were drunk!" He shook his head, and allowed the grin to escape. "But hey, not like I'm complaining. You're as welcome to jump me as the other way around."

He shut off his music and tossed the headphones aside, leaning forward but not quite closing the distance between them. He was going to make Shito start, damn it. "Well?"

Shito's eyes widened faintly and he looked a bit like a deer caught in headlights. "W-well I didn't think you had a problem with it," he snorted. "It seemed like you liked making the first move."

Why wasn't Akatsuki closing the distance between them? It was weird. Shito had registered his desire, after all. What was he waiting for?

Was he really...waiting for Shito? He hesitated, then leaned forward a little further, kissing Akatsuki with a bit more tentativeness then he intended.

Chika returned the kiss with interest, and he only made Shito keep up control for a few moments before he reached up and caught the other boy at the back of the neck with one hand, firming the kiss and taking control of it. Shito was so obviously uncomfortable with taking the lead in a sexual situation it was funny. Chika had made the point he wanted to make, and gotten the confirmation he needed that Shito wasn't just tolerating him but actively wanted it in turn.

He shifted forward until he was kneeling instead of sitting, and that put him above Shito, with Shito's head forced back at an angle in order to maintain the kiss. Chika kept his firm grip on the back of Shito's neck, but let his fingertips wander more gently over the sensitive skin of the side.

Okay, this was ground that Shito had covered before, and he felt himself relaxing as Akatsuki took control of the kiss. He moaned softly as Akatsuki shifted up and forced his head back, holding him steady.

So far the experiment was going very well. Better than he had expected, actually. Akatsuki actually seemed to care if he really wanted it, and from what he'd said it sounded like he'd been...worried. That still blew Shito's mind a bit. Akatsuki, to the best of his knowledge, didn't like him very much. Oh sure, he acted like a friend sometimes, but neither of them would admit that they were friends on pain of death, and they fought constantly. Why should bed be any different?

And yet, it was starting to seem like it might be. Different.

He reached up and took hold of Akatsuki's shirt, slowly undoing the buttons.

Feeling Shito relax into the embrace, Chika knew he'd made the right choice. When Shito started undoing the buttons on his shirt Chika made a purring noise of pleasure, and swiped his tongue over a particularly sensitive spot in reward. At this point they both knew each other's bodies as well as any two people could - what each of them liked, what they didn't like, and where and how it felt best.

He ran his other hand up under Shito's shirt, teasing by dragging the edges of his nails over the taut skin and peaked nipples.

Shito grunted and moaned softly as Akatsuki brushed his fingers over his nipples. He opened Akatsuki's shirt and ran his own fingers over the other boy's chest in turn, then performed the next bit of rebellion he had planned.

He broke the kiss and ducked his head down without waiting for Akatsuki to bring the kiss to an end and free his mouth. Before Akatsuki could protest, he latched nervously onto the other boy's chest and flicked his tongue against his peaked nipple.

He had lain awake for the last few days considering what he might do if he had total freedom and didn't have to worry. He had recalled the time he had asked for permission, and Akatsuki had been so surprised, and decided to try something like this. Perhaps planning out a sexual encounter seemed odd to some, but to someone like Shito, it seemed logical.

It was surprise as much as arousal that made Chika moan, but he arched back to give Shito better access, the hand at Shito's neck drifting upwards to thread fingers through that beautiful dark hair. Shito was being unusually aggressive tonight. Chika didn't know if he was trying to make a point, or just finally comfortable enough with this to try getting some of his own back, but either way he didn't mind. Having one place where he got to dominate Shito was fun, but as long as Shito didn't try to take control in bed _every_ time, like he did in the rest of their lives, Chika didn't mind giving it up once in a while.

Shito hadn't meant to take control, precisely, and he fully expected Akatsuki to reassert control at some point very soon. And yet, he continued not to do so, just moaning and petting him and arching to make it easier for Shito to do what he was doing.

It was...strange, and not unpleasant. Under other circumstances, without the thunder of Shito's heart roaring in his ears, he might have really come to enjoy it. As it was, he was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

He left off torturing the other boy's nipples for a moment and lifted his head, nibbling at Akatsuki's earlobe. "What would you do," he whispered, trying to pitch his tone jokingly. It sounded a little bit wrong coming from him, but he needed an answer to a question he was definitely not courageous enough to test experimentally. "If I decided I didn't want to do this after all?"

"Wh-what, right _now_?" Chika stammered, looking down at him in confusion. His gaze was a little befuddled; Shito had been doing a damned good job with his tongue, as usual, and lust always made it harder to think. Shito couldn't be serious. Could he? "Why would _you_ come to _me_ if you didn't wanna?"

Surely Chika hadn't done something to make him change his mind. Or had giving up that bit of control been the wrong thing to do? Maybe Shito had been testing him, and didn't like the result. Growling, Chika let his head drop back again, his fingers tightening in Shito's hair. He really, really hoped that hadn't been a serious question.

Akatsuki's reaction didn't give Shito a lot of confidence. He hesitated, frowning, since he hadn't gotten the straight answer he'd hoped for. "I...I didn't say I didn't want to," he rallied uncertainly. "I just asked a hypothetical question. Forget it."

He growled and bent his head again, licking at Akatsuki's chest once again as his hand dropped down to Akatsuki's waistband.

It sounded like Akatsuki would definitely object under those circumstances. He hadn't sounded _angry_ , per se, and it wasn't like Shito couldn't overpower him if he needed to, but he had definitely not sounded pleased. It was very different from the refusal from a few days before, when he'd backed off with no questions asked.

Something wasn't sitting right with Chika. This whole encounter just seemed off from start to finish. Shito hadn't answered his question - just told him to forget it. But something told Chika this was too important to just shrug off as 'Shito being weird'.

"Oi, wait, wait," he gasped, somehow finding the strength of will to grab Shito's wrist and stop him before he got more than the belt undone. Taking a deep breath and trying to calm his raging hormones so he could think, he studied Shito's expression. "What are you asking, exactly?"

Fuck, this was what Shito had been afraid of. He looked away, unable to meet Akatsuki's eyes. "I was just asking," he growled. "Just...just teasing you. You're being so passive tonight, I wondered if you'd just let me get up and walk out of here anytime I wanted."

There, that sounded reasonable, right? Run through the Shito-filter, that seemed like a reasonable question.

Never mind that the answer of what Akatsuki would do should have been obvious to any normal person from the start.

"I am not being _passive_ ," Chika retorted, stung. "Geez, just 'cause I let you take the lead for once! Ungrateful. Of course I would!" Couldn't Shito just ask a damned simple question without turning it into a power game?

It took Shito a second to understand what Akatsuki had actually said, and not what it _sounded_ like he was saying, but at the last moment he stopped himself from saying 'really?'.

He eyed Akatsuki for a moment, then smirked. "Well, fine then," he said. "How hard was it to answer a simple question, anyway?"

And he leaned in to resume the kiss, a little shocked by how relieved he was.

Chika made a muffled noise of protest, but he was more interested in continuing what they were doing than in picking a fight with Shito. Even if it was really something that deserved to have a fight picked over it. He kissed back fiercely, growling and trying to disprove that 'passive' comment from before.

When they separated for air again, though, he couldn't stop himself from snapping, "You make it sound like you thought I'd keep you here and rape you whether you want it or not! Fucking hell, Shito, just what the fuck do you think of me, anyway?"

Shito was silent for a moment. Maybe a hair too long. "I don't think that," he said. "Don't be stupid. I could fight you off, anyway, even if you were inclined."

He didn't want to pick a fight with Akatsuki, either. He had been worried about angering the other boy, but not in this _way_. It hadn't occurred to him that Akatsuki would be offended by his questions, that what Shito had worried he would do would be offensive to him to even contemplate.

Though he understood the concept of rape and that most people didn't engage in it, he hadn't really expected that that applied to _him_.

"Like I would ever even think about it!" Chika yelled, incensed by that pause and what it implied. "You've got a damned high opinion of your own irresistibility! Asshole!" He punched Shito in the shoulder - hard.

Then he kissed him again, because it was that or hit him again, and he didn't really want to hit him. It pissed him off beyond belief that Shito could ever think he was capable of something like that. Yet... the fact that Shito had thought he needed to _test_ Chika, when Chika had certainly never given him any reason to think it was necessary... and Shito was awfully good at sex. And so uncharacteristically passive about it...

Was it possible there had been someone in Shito's past who _hadn't_ stopped?

Not like Chika was going to change a damned thing if it was true. Shito would neither welcome nor appreciate any hint of pity on Chika's part.

Shito flinched a little when Akatsuki yelled at him and then kissed him hard. He could feel the anger resonating through the other boy and he reached up and curled his fingers in the open flaps of other boy's shirt, struggling to just return the kiss with enthusiasm instead of being stiff and nervous like he wanted to be.

He really hadn't meant to piss Akatsuki off.

Slowly, his hands started to move again, hoping to soothe Akatsuki's anger by distracting and pleasuring him. His one hand brushed against Akatsuki's nipple while the other went after his fly again.

This time Chika didn't protest when Shito went after his pants. Indeed he returned the favour, fumbling with Shito's belt and fly a little more roughly than he'd actually intended to, anger making him impatient. He pulled away from the kiss but immediately dropped his mouth down along the curve of Shito's jaw to his neck, biting and sucking to leave small marks behind. Let Shito bitch at him. It could be his form of penance for thinking such a rotten thing of Chika.

He got his hand around Shito's cock and stroked slowly, putting enough pressure into his grip that it would be just on the right side of painful.

Shito was starting to get very, very nervous. He opened Akatsuki's pants and slipped a hand inside, stroking the other boy's cock with much less pressure then Akatsuki was using on him. It wasn't painful, but the threat was there, and he was cursing himself for having provoked the other boy at all.

 _I knew it_ , he thought irrationally. _How could I have been so stupid?_ Now, he was certain that Akatsuki was going to hurt him. He was just gearing up for it, that's all.

"I-I'm sorry," he said softly, though he knew it wouldn't do any good.

"Idiot," Chika accused him, still more than irritated. He did ease his grip a bit, but he nipped at Shito' shoulder again instead. "Don't fucking _apologize_ to get me to stop, moron! Just tell me if I do something you don't like! I'm not a fucking mindreader!"

Damn it, now he was second-guessing himself. He'd thought that Shito hadn't objected to the things they'd done because Shito liked them too. What if he'd been wrong? What if all this time Shito had been going along because he'd thought he didn't have a choice? Would Chika ever know for sure? How was he supposed to trust that Shito would tell him if something was bad in the future? How could he possibly know where the lines were?

Shito's breathing was starting to quicken, and it wasn't entirely from arousal. If he wasn't supposed to apologize, then what was he supposed to do? Apologizing only seemed to have made Akatsuki even more annoyed, and he just wanted the other boy to stop being _annoyed_ at him.

"I...I'm not a mindreader either," he said helplessly. Akatsuki had eased up a bit, but he wasn't sure if that was because he was no longer so angry, or whether it was just coincidence.

Akatsuki's temper was one thing in the normal world. Shito could easily hold his own and give back twice of what he gave. But the last thing he wanted to do was have a fight while half-naked and with the other boy's hand wrapped around his dick. Even if he hadn't already been so hurt in the past, it wouldn't have been an ideal position to be fighting in.

"I just told you, didn't I?" Chika retorted. Gods, why did Shito have to be such a fucking prick?

An idea came to him, and he released Shito's cock, pulling away until he wasn't touching the other boy at all, just glaring at him. "Tell me what you want," he said, his expression and tone an unmistakeable challenge. "Tell me exactly what you want, Shito. I won't do a damned fucking thing unless you tell me to, tonight." And fuck Shito if he thought this was a sign of passivity - it was just a different kind of control, because Shito couldn't force Chika to do anything he didn't want to.

And maybe it would serve as a lesson to Shito about the difference between submission, passiveness, and weakness, as well as reassuring Chika that he wasn't forcing the other boy somehow.

Shito stared at him in shock, flabbergasted by the command and utterly at a loss about what to do. His heart pounded in his ears as he struggled to try to make this fit in with something he knew how to cope with.

But he couldn't. He didn't know where to begin. He was looking out over a minefield, and all he really wanted to do was zip up his pants and run. He'd never thought of sex in terms of what _he_ really wanted. He knew things that felt good, and things that didn't. But as for directing a sexual encounter, he didn't have a clue.

"Akatsuki..." he said softly. "Don't. I...I don't know."

"For fuck's sake, Shito, it's not like it's that hard," Chika said, rolling his eyes. He decided to take some pity on the obviously floundering boy, though. "Fine. Want me to put my hand on your cock?" Maybe if he made the first suggestions, forced Shito to actually think about it and acknowledge each step, that would make it easier. Once Shito got into things, surely he would be able to think of things to tell Chika to do. How hard could it be to come up with things like 'harder', 'faster', 'touch that', 'don't do this'?

Shito considered that suspiciously. "Okay," he said finally, after what probably looked like a bizarrely long deliberation.

He looked away, flushing. "I don't understand why you're being like this," he said awkwardly, his heart set to pounding again as he hoped he wasn't about to make Akatsuki angry all over again. "Why don't you just do what you want? What...what do you get out of making me try to guess?"

Chika was reaching for Shito's cock, but he stopped with his hand an inch from the heated flesh, looking at Shito with a startled expression. After a moment his surprise turned to something close to sympathy, though he buried it deeply under what he hoped looked like resignation. "And here you always claim to be the brains of this operation. Fuck, we're in trouble if _you're_ the smart one. Listen, stupid."

He laid it out slowly and carefully, like he was talking to a particularly slow five-year-old. "I'm not asking you to guess what I want. I just _told_ you what I want. What I want is for you to tell me what _you_ want. Not to just go along with what I'm doing, and not to say what you think I want to hear, but what _you_ want. Consider it an order, if that makes you feel better."

Shito drew in a breath and let it out, trying desperately to believe that Akatsuki was telling the truth, that he really did just want to know what Shito wanted, and would actually _do_ what he wanted.

"All right just...just a minute." He drew away from the reaching hand, struggling to think, and looking away from Akatsuki's face. So soon after Toho's most recent visit, it was even harder to trust the other boy. Toho had all but convinced him that any friendships he might have built were completely false, and he only still believed in those friendships by the thinnest of threads.

"I'm not stupid," he added gruffly. "I don't expect you to understand _anything_ about me. But fine, if it makes you feel better, believe that I'm just too stupid to understand what you're asking for."

He swallowed hard and turned to Akatsuki. Maybe honesty would get him out of this situation. "I want...I want for you to make me feel good, and not to hurt me, and for me to not have to think about what to do next, but just to feel. Is that clear enough for you to comprehend, or do I have to use smaller words?"

Chika coughed to hide a laugh, but his wry grin was clearly visible. "That's cheating," he accused the other boy. "But okay, fine, I get the picture. If we're gonna do it that way, though, there's one thing I want first." He became serious abruptly, staring fiercely into Shito's eyes, _willing_ him to understand how important this was to Chika. "I want you to swear, on your life or your honour or whatever you would swear by, that if I do something you don't like or don't want you will _fucking tell me._ That clear enough for you, or do I have to use smaller words?" He deliberately echoed Shito's words, and his mocking tone of voice.

"That really matters so much to you," Shito said, feeling, for the first time, obscurely guilty for having equated Akatsuki with the exorcists from the Xu Fu. Perhaps...perhaps because Akatsuki didn't think of him as a monster, he truly didn't see it the same way.

He swallowed, willing himself to internalize his own next words. "I swear on my life that I'll tell you if you do something I don't like," he said firmly. His eyes narrowed. "If _you_ swear that you won't get mad at me or somehow take it out on me if I disappoint you."

Well, that was only fair, Chika supposed. "I swear on my life that I will never take _anything_ out on you through sex, Shito." Shito of all people should know exactly how much value Chika placed on his life, considering how hard he fought to keep it. He shook his head. "Can't really promise much about getting mad - you're too damned good at pushing my buttons. But getting mad at you for being a snarky asshole is one thing. This is something else."

Shito nodded slowly, then smirked wryly. "I don't really expect you not to get mad at me," he admitted. "That'd be pretty much impossible."

He experienced a strange impulse to just come clean, to explain what had happened to him so that he could truly be certain that Akatsuki understood. But it wasn't really necessary, and the thought of speaking about it out loud to anyone filled him with horror.

Slowly, he reached for Akatsuki once again, sliding his arm around his neck and closing in to kiss him once more. Though he was initiating it, there was nothing particularly dominant or aggressive in the movement, which was soft and gentle.

Chika kissed him back, but though he made the embrace fierce it wasn't as harsh or demanding as he usually was in bed. It wasn't the first time he'd been a little gentler - some days he just hadn't been in the mood for 'hard and fast'. But it was more of a deliberate choice tonight, to prove that he _was_ taking Shito's needs and desires into consideration.

He shifted them until Shito was stretched out on his bed and Chika was kneeling above him, knees on either side of Shito's hips and hands just above his shoulders. Chika broke the kiss and trailed his mouth over that strong jawline and supple neck. This was one of his favourite things to do with Shito, partly because of the marks he could leave and partly because of the noises he could wring out of the other boy. This time he was slow and deliberate about it, almost teasing.

Shito felt oddly comfortable without much of the nervousness he often felt. Akatsuki was being especially gentle, and while Shito didn't necessarily need him to be, he felt that it made him feel even more comfortable. Akatsuki was trying to make him feel good, and he sensed that some of this gentleness was to reassure him.

He stretched out on the bed at Akatsuki's urging, tilting his head back a little to give Akatsuki even easier access. His own hands wandered a bit and then delved between Akatsuki's legs, curling around his cock once again and giving him a few slow strokes.

This was...really _nice_. He'd never thought of sex as being particularly nice, before. It could be stress relief, and it could be pleasurable, but he'd always needed alcohol before he could throw himself into it without reservation or nervousness.

 _Make you feel good, not hurt you, and make you feel instead of think, huh?_ Chika remembered Shito's earlier words. _All right, I can do that._

He slid his hand inside Shito's already open pants, resuming his grip on the other boy's hard cock. This time he kept his grip firm but not punishing, stroking slowly up and down and rubbing his thumb over the tip with each stroke. With his other hand he finished opening Shito's shirt and pushed it back away from his body, clearing a path for Chika to trail his mouth down over Shito's chest. He paused to lightly flick tongue and teeth over the other boy's nipples, enjoying the noises he got for his efforts. He moved his hips in time with Shito's stroking, encouraging but not demanding, and a few moans of his own slipped from his throat.

Shito's breathing was getting deeper and faster the more Akatsuki did. He was soon writhing helplessly under the onslaught, which was completely pleasurable without even a hint of pain or anything else that might detract from the sensations. He groaned softly at what Akatsuki was doing with his nipples, his own hand's rhythm speeding up quickly.

Akatsuki was definitely holding up his end of the bargain. Shito wasn't thinking - or more importantly, _worrying_ at all, by this point.

It was hard for Chika to focus on what he was doing when Shito's hand was doing such incredible things to him. He was torn - badly torn - between letting Shito continue or stopping him so Chika could concentrate properly.

In the end, he solved the problem by the simple expedient of moving too far down Shito's body for the other boy to reach him anymore. Chika tugged at Shito's pants, pushing them down over his hips, freeing that lovely cock for Chika's full attention. He swiped his tongue lazily over Shito's navel and at the juncture of his thighs and body, teasing, before finally going down far enough to wrap his tongue around the tip.

At the same time he worked one hand between Shito's legs and carefully inserted a finger into the other's body, searching for that spot he'd learned could make a guy see stars.

Shito made a soft noise of distress and disappointment when Akatsuki's cock pulled out of his hand, but a moment later he didn't much care anymore after all. He squirmed at the touch of Akatsuki's tongue, squeezing his eyes shut tightly. He was less shocked that Akatsuki would pleasure him this way then he had been the first time - it hadn't been the last, even before today, and he'd come to the conclusion that Akatsuki apparently just _liked_ it.

Today it was even better somehow, though. He rocked helplessly, trying not to thrust into Akatsuki's mouth, but the penetration of Akatsuki's finger and the sparks that the touch sent through him was rapidly breaking down any ability he had to control his own body. It helped - or hindered, depending on your perspective - that he was far less nervous then he had been to disobey or otherwise annoy Akatsuki.

Chika had done this often enough now to have picked up a few tricks not to choke, but he still didn't know if he could handle having Shito thrusting full-on into his mouth. On the other hand, Shito thinking enough not to thrust up at him meant Shito _thinking_ , and that wasn't what he was going for.

Chika braced his forearm across the line of Shito's hips and leaned most of his weight onto it, effectively pinning the other boy to the bed. Shito could squirm and try to thrust as much as he liked, now - he wouldn't budge unless he made a real, concerted effort to throw Chika off, first. Chika didn't think that was too likely.

The weight on Shito's hips actually helped him relax even further, since he recognized that it meant he didn't have to worry so much about not thrusting forward too hard. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt Akatsuki right now or cause him to choke, but as the weight settled and pinned him down, he began to rock and writhe with even more abandon.

It didn't take long under those circumstances before he lost control completely and cried out as fluid rushed into Akatsuki's mouth. Shito groaned and collapsed to the bed, gasping for breath and only now starting to realize just how much he had surrendered control to the other boy this time.

It both frightened and drew him. And he opened his eyes, a bit nervously, hoping that he hadn't gone too far.

Far from it. Despite the deep, insistent ache in his own cock, Chika was grinning up at the other boy, wiping his mouth to catch the last traces of semen. There had been something oddly different about Shito's expression when he came this time - less tension, more pleasure, not as much calculation, _something_ like that. Whatever it was, Chika thought very privately that it was about the hottest thing he'd ever seen. He hoped they wouldn't have to abandon the rougher play entirely - he liked that, and he was pretty sure Shito did, too. But he didn't mind doing it a little more gently sometimes, if it would put _that_ look on Shito's face.

"So?" he purred, crawling back up to hover over Shito, leaning down until their faces were a bare inch apart and he was whispering the words practically against Shito's mouth. "That enough not thinking for you?"

Shito glanced up at him, quickly recovering his poise. His voice was only a little breathless as he responded. "Unlike you, I always think, Aka--," he said archly, sliding his hand between them and taking hold of the other boy's cock. Akatsuki punched his shoulder, cutting him off, and his cheeks flamed. He was bound and determined not to start calling the other boy 'Chika', though.

"But...but it was...very good," he added, a little bit hesitantly, then leaned up to kiss him, tasting his own fluids on Akatsuki's tongue.

He was loath to admit it, because it made him feel self-conscious in a way he wouldn't have expected. On the other hand, it had occurred to him that if Akatsuki actually wanted to _know_ if it were good or not, he wouldn't know unless Shito actually had the balls to tell him.

Chika growled softly over the 'Akatsuki', but purred with pleasure into Shito's mouth when informed that it had been good. "Good," he said, his voice gone husky with need and a little breathless because of the way Shito's hand was moving over him. "That was the idea. Shito, I swear to the gods. Either call me Chika or find something else, or don't call me anything at all. But stop fucking calling me Akatsuki in bed, damn it!" Chika had pretty much given up on making Shito call him by given name, but that didn't mean he'd given up on _not_ being called by his family name. It was so awkwardly formal, and the insistence on it always made him feel like Shito was keeping a deliberate distance between them.

Yeah, okay, they weren't friends. And yeah, okay, in their regular life he didn't care nearly as much, though it still irritated him. But in bed, in such an intimate situation - they weren't _lovers_ or anything unbearably sappy like that, but Chika still thought a _little_ recognition of their closeness was warranted.

Shito thought that Akatsuki was being incredibly silly, and said so. "What difference does it make?" he growled. "But fine, then I won't call you anything in bed, if you prefer. I don't see what the big deal is."

He didn't know why he was being so stubborn about it, except that he still wasn't comfortable with the idea that them having sex in some way brought them closer. He was highly allergic to the idea, in fact, and didn't want Akatsuki to start getting sentimental. That would only cause problems, since Shito was determined that they were. Not. Friends.

Akatsuki was young, and if Shito didn't keep his distance he probably _would_ start getting sappy.

Despairing of ever understanding Shito, even the tiniest little bit, Chika sighed. "It matters to me, all right? Whatever."

He grabbed Shito's shoulders and rolled them over to reverse their positions, so that Chika was the one pinned beneath Shito. That let Chika arch up into the feel of Shito's fist on his cock, instead of trying to keep his balance and not collapse from sheer overload of pleasure. He gave Shito a somewhat breathless grin. "So? What are you waiting for? Have fun." It was carte blanche for Shito to do whatever the hell he wanted to Chika. Chika honestly wasn't sure the other boy would take him up on it, but he wanted the offer clearly made.

"Well...it matters to me, too," Shito said stubbornly, and that was the last he intended to say about that. If Akatsuki pretended to care what he wanted, he could honour this, too. Shito did everything _else_ Akatsuki damn well wanted, after all.

As for this latest instruction, actually, this was something that Shito was able to do. He smiled faintly - the expression more of a smirk, actually - and lowered his head to suckle and nip at Akatsuki's throat. He traced patterns with his fingers, then followed them with his mouth, licking and sucking and even leaving a few marks on Akatsuki's pale skin.

His hand squeezed and rubbed and twisted over Akatsuki's cock, the pace reduced to a slow, teasing motion that he hoped would drive the other boy out of his mind.

It was working. Chika panted and writhed beneath him, the long slow climb to orgasm threatening to send him completely insane. "Sh-shit," he moaned, tossing his head back and trying to work his hips to get more friction. "Gods, you are such a fucking tease!"

Despite the accusing words, his tone made it perfectly clear that he didn't mind one little bit.

"Don't complain," Shito informed him, smirking evilly. "I might...stop."

And, greatly daring, he did so for just a moment or two.

The reaction was reward enough, though after a few seconds he started stroking Akatsuki's cock once again, faster then before, and then dropped his head down to swallow the boy's member before he could come.

Maybe this could be 'fun', after all.

Sadly, Chika knew he had only himself to blame for his current torment. He'd offered Shito free rein, and he couldn't complain when the other boy took it.

Of course, he didn't _want_ to complain, he was enjoying the hell out of himself. But it wasn't easy to convince his hindbrain of that when he needed completion _so damned bad_ and Shito was denying him.

Then the other boy leaned down and swallowed him whole, and Chika stopped thinking at all. He managed a whole three seconds, nearly four, before he exploded with a strangled shout and his fingers twisted in Shito's hair to hold him still.

Shito swallowed the fluid easily, riding out the jerks and thrusts of the orgasm as Akatsuki completely lost control and held his head in place. It wasn't easy, but he'd dealt with far worse, and he managed not to choke.

Finally Akatsuki released him and he lifted his head, looking up at the expression of bliss on the other boy's face and feeling a foreign sense of satisfaction. He had done that. _He_ had, intentionally. No one had made him do it, and he'd done it with his own ideas.

This...wasn't so bad, after all.

He crawled up the bed and stretched out next to him, placing a hand on his chest and feeling the thrum of Akatsuki's heart.

Chika was still panting and dazed, and he didn't think he could summon the energy to really move just yet. But he turned his head and grinned cheekily at his partner. "See? That wasn't so bad, was it?" he said, his voice hoarse with the shouting he'd been doing. Good thing he and Shito were the only ones on this side of the building when Soutetsu was away. Chika wasn't quite sure _what_ they were going to do when the third male in the dorm returned from wherever the hell he was now.

Invest in gags, maybe, though losing the ability to hear Shito make those amazing noises would be disappointing. Better than going without entirely, though.

"Not so bad," Shito said in a tone that implied that it wasn't _so_ wonderful, either. He wasn't about to let Akatsuki get a swelled head.

He sort of liked the hoarseness of Akatsuki's voice, though. It made his own ego swell a bit.

He shifted off the bed and pulled his pants back up again. Since this had been his idea, it seemed logical that he shouldn't have to wait for Akatsuki's permission to leave, either. And for all that it was sometimes nice to sleep after sex, he preferred his own bed to squeezing in with Akatsuki.

"So...until next time, then," he said.

"Mmm. Not staying?" Chika was a little disappointed, but not enough that he was going to push the issue. Not after all the battles he'd already won tonight. He sat up and stretched, shrugging out of what was left of his clothes and reaching for a fresh pair of boxers to sleep in. "Well, you're welcome any time, Shito." He hoped at least _that_ was clear, at this point.

"I prefer sleeping in my own bed," Shito said, shrugging faintly. And it wasn't like he had a very strong preference, but it was a preference nonetheless. He liked his privacy, after all, and even on the nights when Akatsuki had insisted he stay, he had managed to steal his way back to his own room before morning.

He glanced at Akatsuki, his expression inscrutable. "Well...good," he said. "And I don't have a problem if you don't wait for me, either."

Then he turned and left. This had been a breakthrough. He hadn't expected it to be nearly as much of one, and now he almost felt...happy.

So long as Akatsuki continued to think of him as a person, didn't realize how much of a monster he truly was, maybe this could work.


	6. Chapter 6

Chika didn't realize anything was wrong until Shito approached Michiru and started thanking her for helping him when he was injured. Even then Chika simply watched in shock, thinking Shito was _finally_ learning the lesson that there were actually people who cared about him...

...until Shito asked out of the blue if he could kiss Michiru.

Chika growled, his expression thunderous. There was only one reason Shito would just go around throwing himself at people like that.

Over in the corner, Soutetsu was laughing his head off. "You got into my tequila by accident, didn't you Shito?" he howled. "Your habit of hitting on the girls is as bad as ever."

That, of course, only drew Shito's attention. To Chika's further irritation, the other boy then hovered over Soutetsu and blithely asked if he could kiss _him_. Soutetsu, the letch, agreed of course. "Oh, bring it on!"

Chika couldn't take it any more. "Oi! Shito," he snarled, hurt and trying very hard not to show it. "Can't you keep it in your damned pants?"

Not like he'd never seen Shito do this before, he reminded himself grumpily, huffing and turning away so he wouldn't have to watch if Shito _did_ kiss Soutetsu. Hell, it was how he and Shito had gotten together in the first place.

Only, since that night, he couldn't remember Shito ever asking to kiss anyone but _him_. Fuck, it was about the only time he got any real affection out of the prickly bastard.

Shito was just leaning in to kiss Soutetsu when he heard Akatsuki's words. He was distracted, befuddled by the tequila he hadn't meant to drink, and turned to look at the other boy.

Unfortunately, Akatsuki's words didn't do anything to change the unfounded opinion that had had him throwing himself at everyone _but_ Akatsuki the moment he was drunk.

The fact was, Akatsuki understood now. He knew what Shito was, and how much of a monster he really was. Though he knew Michiru and Soutetsu knew it as well, it was somehow different, because in all the months that he and Akatsuki had been sleeping together off and on, one thought had kept him going. The thought that so long as Akatsuki didn't know what he was, he would keep treating him like a person.

Apparently he'd been staring at Akatsuki a little too long, because Soutetsu gave him a shove. "He's the one you really want, isn't it?" he guffawed. "Though I certainly wouldn't mind a bit of that pretty ass of yours, Shito."

As Shito stumbled back towards Akatsuki, he felt Soutetsu's hand take a sampling of that pretty ass, and then give it a whack.

Chika hadn't been aware that he was capable of moving that fast. Actually, he hadn't even been aware that he was planning on moving at all, until he found himself halfway across the room with Soutetsu's wrist in a crushing grip, snarling into his senpai's face. He was tipsy himself - he'd been curious to try the tequila, and it wasn't half bad, but unlike Shito he'd been aware of what he was drinking.

"Hands off," he growled at Soutetsu, knowing a drunken Shito would be even less likely to object to the handling than Shito normally would, and that was saying something. So Chika would protest for him.

Soutetsu just smirked at him, of course. He'd been there when the whole thing had started, and Chika was pretty sure he knew it was still going on, given the comment he'd just made. "Maa, maa, Chika," he said, in that mock-soothing tone he had that irritated Chika so much. "I didn't mean any harm..."

Chika released him and jerked away. In the same motion he caught Shito by the arm and hauled him towards the door, his face set and eyes snapping with anger. "You. Come with me. We need to talk."

Shito's reflexes were definitely not what they should be, and he had barely realized that Akatsuki was intervening before he suddenly found himself hauled out the door by a livid boy.

"Talk?" he protested, though he didn't actually fight as he was dragged along. "I don't like talking."

Well, it was true.

Tough!" Chika snapped, glaring at him. "You're doing it anyway!"

"Chika-san..." Michiru started tentatively, probably planning to try to intervene and stop them from killing each other. Chika gave her a glare unlike any he'd ever before levelled at the inoffensive girl - usually he reserved that level of intensity for Shito alone. She gulped and took a step back, waving her hands wildly to show she wasn't going to say anything further. Just before they left Shito's room, he saw Soutetsu grab her by the arm and pull her down to whisper urgently into her ear.

Well, if she hadn't known about this particular detail of his fucked-up relationship with Shito before, she would now. Chika was so far beyond caring it wasn't even funny.

Shito grumbled under his breath as Akatsuki dragged him off. "Let me go," he suddenly said, raising his voice and trying to tug his hand from Akatsuki's grasp. "S-Stop it. I...I don't want you to do this right now. You know I'm a monster."

To his drunken brain, all of this made complete sense. It was probably lucky that there was no one around to hear him talking like this.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Chika refused to let up on his grip until he had them both safely in his room with the door closed behind them. Not that a simple door would stop some of the others from eavesdropping, but at least they wouldn't be able to see anything. "What exactly don't you want me to do, huh? What, I'm not good enough any more? Decided Michiru or Soutetsu is more to your taste?"

He snarled, hurt and trying to cover it with righteous anger, but not doing a very good job. Despite their mutual antipathy, he'd thought maybe, _maybe_ there was starting to be something more than just irritation and good sex between him and Shito. And then the asshole had to haul off and do something like this.

Abruptly Chika slumped, and let go of Shito's arm. "I don't even know why I'm bothering," he muttered, turning away and rubbing a hand over his weary eyes. "Do what you want. Not like I've got any say in it. But don't expect to crawl out of their beds and into mine. I don't share."

Shito stood where he was, his head hanging. He'd never let Akatsuki get to him like this if he were sober, but when he was drunk the emotions were so much closer to the surface, boiling and seething inside him and he was so much less able to cope with them.

"You'll be like them, now," he said tonelessly. "You know I'm nothing. I'm just a monster. I'm not a person."

"Oh, bullshit!" Chika exploded, turning back and slamming his hand into the wall just beside Shito's head. He'd been very, very tempted to punch the asshole instead, but he'd once promised Shito that he would never take out his anger on the prick in bed. They weren't exactly making out, but sex was the centre of this whole discussion so that was close enough.

But gods, it was tempting.

"Why, because you were born a zombie? So fucking what?" Chika raged. "When have I _ever_ treated you the way you expected me to, huh? Why do you keep thinking so fucking little of me?"

Shito flinched away from the blow, anyway, as if Akatsuki had meant to hit him and only missed.

If he were sober, this conversation would be going entirely differently. He struggled just to think, and it wasn't working terribly well. "I don't think little of you. They...they hurt me, because I'm not a person," he said, his gaze fixed at a point somewhere on the floor.

"I...I always thought," he said softly. "It was good that you thought I was a person, because that was why you were always so nice to me. There's no point in being nice, now."

He couldn't quite figure out how to convey that it wasn't that he thought badly of Akatsuki. He thought badly of himself.

If not for the fact that he already had a pretty damned good idea of just how far Shito had been broken - and what that bastard Toho had probably done to break him - Chika might have lost it entirely.

As it was, he turned away and took a couple of deep breaths, struggling for control of his temper, his shoulders so tight it was a wonder the tendons didn't snap. "Don't you _ever_ compare me with that asshole of an exorcist," he snarled. "I'm nothing like him, got it? So what if you were born a zombie? You're still you, and you're still as alive as the rest of us. It doesn't give you any more right to be a prick than anyone else has. And it doesn't give me any more right to hurt you. Got it?"

At least now that he knew how long Shito had been alive, the incredibly twisted depths of the other 'boy's' mind finally started to make some sense.

Shito looked up, his expression almost vulnerable as he looked at Akatsuki. He...knew? He knew Toho?

He swallowed, hard. "You met Toho?" he asked. Then his eyes widened with concern and he grabbed Akatsuki by the shoulder, turning him around. "What did he do to you? Did he hurt you?" His eyes travelled over Akatsuki's body, as if searching for signs of a wound. Of course, even if Toho had hurt him, obviously the signs would have been long gone by now. Akatsuki hadn't been injured when he arrived to rescue Shito, after all.

Or 'rescue' him, in any case. He had only retrieved his hand. Shito was the one who rescued _him_ , later.

Chika would have snapped at him, if he hadn't seen the genuine panic in Shito's eyes. Grudgingly he admitted, "The bastard came to the Ferryman's office to tell us you'd been taken. He did... something. I don't know. I couldn't move, couldn't think, couldn't do anything but just stare at him like... like a landed fish!" The memory sat very badly with him, even now. "And later he attacked Michiru and I." Soutetsu had rescued them that time, but he saw no particular reason to tell Shito that. Let him think Chika had gotten out of it on his own. He _would_ have. Soutetsu had just... sped things up a little.

He looked back at Shito, losing some of his anger as his eyes grew serious. "He's the one, isn't he. That hurt you." He didn't make it a question, because Shito would only dodge a question, probably try to insist that nobody had ever hurt him. The words had never actually been said aloud between them, after all.

Shito swallowed hard. Right now, even if Akatsuki had framed it as a question, he might have been honest. There was no point in trying to hide it, and there was a part of him that desperately wanted the other boy to understand. There had been so many misunderstandings, he now realized, and even though it was still very hard to trust him, right now he wanted to avoid any more.

"He is only the most recent," he said, his voice thick with shame. "The exorcists have always hurt me, since I was very young. For 150 years, they've hurt me, and no one has ever been...the way you've been."

His voice was a little bit pleading. Was it so difficult to understand why he had expected Akatsuki to treat him like all the rest?

"Well, I'm _not one of them_ ," Chika snapped, glaring at Shito and fiercely willing him to believe it. "Got it? I don't give a fuck whether you were born as a human or a zombie or a potato chip! You're who you are now, and that hasn't changed since before you were stupid enough to get yourself kidnapped, so why would I change the way I act? And I swear to the gods, Shito, the next time you accuse me of behaving like _they_ would, I'll..." _punch you out_ , he wanted to say, except that would only be doing exactly what Shito expected - hurting him, just like the exorcists had.

"I'll think of some kind of suitably dire punishment," he muttered instead, irritated that he couldn't come up with anything better. "Maybe I'll just _tease_ you for an hour and not let you come, until you apologize properly." There, that was more like it.

Shito was silent for a moment, then stepped forward and slipped his arms around Akatsuki's neck. "I got it," he said, though his voice was still a little nervous.

"I didn't...mean to equate you with them," he added lamely. "It's just that no one's treated me like you, before. And I thought you hated me for so long. And I didn't believe that I could have friends. So I was just waiting for you to change your mind and decide it was more fun the other way..."

A part of him that was still at least a little sober couldn't believe he was saying this so openly and honestly.

"I do hate you, asshole," Chika said, but his heart wasn't in it and he turned to catch Shito's waist and pull him closer, putting the lie to his words. He sighed and buried his face in Shito's shoulder, not teasing the skin of his neck yet, just soaking up the other boy's presence. He'd been _worried_ , damn it, far more worried than he'd let on to the others, and not just because his hand had been rotting right off his arm. Part of him had been terrified that he would never see Shito alive again - or that even if they managed to rescue him, Xu Fu would just come along and take him away.

Actually that was still a possibility, but Chika was trying not to think about it. "Just 'cause I don't like you much doesn't mean you can just go kissing anyone you want, though," he growled, turning his head to nip lightly at Shito's neck. "You're mine. At least, you are as long as you want to keep doing this with me. You can leave any time you wanna, but I'm not fucking sharing."

Shito stiffened guiltily, then sagged a little. There was no way he could promise that. Not with Toho around. But perhaps Akatsuki already understood that. Well, he would do his best, regardless. At least with Michiru and Soutetsu, it hadn't been anything serious. Just a passing fancy from the alcohol, and he'd been too nervous to go after Akatsuki himself.

"All right, fine," he said softly, sliding his arms up and wrapping them tightly around the other boy. "No one else."

"All right," Chika said gruffly, holding Shito just as tightly in return. This had to be one of the most fucked-up relationships he'd ever heard of. Talk about 'co-dependant', for one thing. On the other hand, he didn't think he'd have it any other way. For it to be different, _Shito_ would have to be different, and - as much as Chika sometimes hated him - he didn't want the arrogant prick to change. Much.

Before his thoughts could get any more disgustingly maudlin, he pulled back and kissed Shito fiercely - but gently, knowing his lingering temper would carry him away if he wasn't careful. The last thing he wanted to do was break his promise not to take anything out on Shito in bed.

Shito returned the kiss with equal passion, allowing the surge of hormones and arousal to mix with the lingering alcohol in his system to carry thought away. For a long moment, as they tore each other's clothes off and stumbled towards the bed, he didn't worry about Toho or think about monsters or zombies.

Later, he curled up next to Akatsuki and listened to him breathe. A part of him still couldn't reconcile this with the battles they fought on a daily basis, but the rest of him was aware that the fights had rarely been serious for some time.

"Don't think this means I like you," he muttered, pillowing his head on Akatsuki's shoulder and cinching his arm around him tightly. Because the forms had to be followed.

He was pretty sure he didn't want to go back to his room tonight. Akatsuki's bed was small, but comfortable, and there were probably still party hats and confetti lurking in Shito's room.

"Didn't we already cover this?" Chika asked, yawning and turning over so he could hitch Shito a little closer. He liked it when the other boy stuck around afterwards. Not for some kind of gay cuddling thing or something, but just because... it was nice, to have another warm body there, to keep that tacit reassurance that he was _alive_ and feeling.

"At least I finally got you to call me Chika," he said, smiling into Shito's hair. "You know I'm never gonna give up on that, right?"

"Hmph," Shito grumbled. "Of course not. You don't give up on anything," he growled.

He burrowed a little closer and closed his eyes. "Just go to sleep...Chika," he mumbled resentfully.

That earned him a delighted smile from Chika, though Shito wouldn't have been able to see it in the dark. "Sleep well, Shito," Chika murmured in turn.

 _We may yet survive being linked to each other after all._


End file.
